I was going to take my "birthday off" on Monday, but changed already, because they need me to do some stuff on Monday morning. Going to have dinner with my relatives tomorrow. Jasper says Clarissa is still the one.
Will be flying to Los Angeles on Christmas day. The politics of having a boss and having a "boss of the boss" has had some effects. The other branch in the department wants to loan my services and apparently my boss said OK but not her boss. But really, they've certainly got people who can do the job in that branch, especially with the recent arrival of Benjamin (gz should know him, he was from Cornell).
Haven't got to talk to Benjamin much; he's probably somewhat of a linux guru, was describing how in "grid computing" you can put a bunch of computers on gigabit ethernet and as a result have a few gigabytes of RAM that can be shared by all the computers, which probably works out to as much RAM as you can possibly need, depending on how many people are using the computers. Said something about needing an OS like linux; Windows probably can't cut it.
I'm close to rebuilding the linux kernel. I've done the config, now reading through the documentation for make-kpkg to make sure I don't screw up too majorly. If the goes well, the next major task would be to make sure my sound system works, but more importantly, I want my USB devices to work. And the most critical of these devices is my Iomega external CD-writer, but it might be that there's no linux driver for it... at least officially it seems like there isn't.
Oh, a POSB branch got (successfully) robbed by a guy with a knife. Heard the news on the radio last night in the car going to dinner (a branch "celebration") at Goodwood Hotel (buffet). The desserts were delicious. Especially the chocolate cake. It was ridiculously yummy.
I can quite safely say that my first programming project is a resounding success. My bosses love me for it, and they want to put it up for an award with a maximum monetary award of $500. Unfortunately, the money won't go directly to me, at any rate. But it's things like these that pay for dinners like those.
In my next project, I think I will be stealing credit for launching a project that was developed something like 4 years ago but for some reason or other is still stillborn.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
untitled
Jasper says the NASA pillow is a hoax, it's no better than an ordinary pillow. Seems he's all set up with his laptop. Christmas is coming! (I'll be in LA.)
i am a bottle of blood & tears
when i lie down
the tears flow
though the blood should spill instead
i am a bottle of blood & tears
when i lie down
the tears flow
though the blood should spill instead
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
KVM
My boss gave me 3 days off. Actually wanted to give me 10 days off, but that's pretty extravagant, and her boss thought so too. Soon to get another computer at work, and a KVM switch so I can swap the use of the two, using one set of keyboard, monitor and mouse.
We're going bowling this Friday. Jasper, what do you think of me staying over at your place this Friday? I'm thinking I'll go over after bowling, I'll be somewhere in the West, late evening-ish. Fell asleep last night, so really, really need to work now...
We're going bowling this Friday. Jasper, what do you think of me staying over at your place this Friday? I'm thinking I'll go over after bowling, I'll be somewhere in the West, late evening-ish. Fell asleep last night, so really, really need to work now...
Monday, November 29, 2004
chocolates
God I love chocolate. Dark chocolate, please, no other kind will do, just not satisfying and only feeds my craving for a real fix. Had bread and hummus for breakfast today. Incredibly awesome.
Friends is hilarious. I think the best parts are when Joey (or Phoebe) play stupid (or just plain loopy). Simpsons was hilarious. Managed to catch it because got home at 6pm today after the course; usually get back from work at around 6:30. Actually, lots of stuff on TV is hilarious.
Another mandatory death penalty or two for possession of heroin. Wrapped in tin foil amongst chocolates (malteasers) in a tin.
Aaron thinks it's not possible to easily get a complete desktop system (inclusive of CRT monitor, mouse, keyboard) for under $500 in Singapore. Of course, not top-of-the-line stuff, but pretty decent stuff. What do you think?
I think Say Yang is going to be running the marathon soon. It would be nice to go back to work tomorrow and do some programming. But it's a long night tonight...
Friends is hilarious. I think the best parts are when Joey (or Phoebe) play stupid (or just plain loopy). Simpsons was hilarious. Managed to catch it because got home at 6pm today after the course; usually get back from work at around 6:30. Actually, lots of stuff on TV is hilarious.
Another mandatory death penalty or two for possession of heroin. Wrapped in tin foil amongst chocolates (malteasers) in a tin.
Aaron thinks it's not possible to easily get a complete desktop system (inclusive of CRT monitor, mouse, keyboard) for under $500 in Singapore. Of course, not top-of-the-line stuff, but pretty decent stuff. What do you think?
I think Say Yang is going to be running the marathon soon. It would be nice to go back to work tomorrow and do some programming. But it's a long night tonight...
Saturday, November 27, 2004
baby
Couldn't really stand it anymore, so I cut the hair behind my head last night with scissors, then today at work the level 2 boss say I cut until damn funny so got one of my colleagues to even it out for me. So got free haircut.
Was out with Jasper just now. He's moved into the NUS hostel, and hasn't got his computer yet but he'll be getting a laptop soon. He says the NASA pillow isn't all it's cracked up to be. He says the Polar Express is a very nice, inspiring show. He says Clarissa is no longer the one, though the coin always says she is.
I'll be going to the course on Monday in civilian attire and just say that I wear civilian to work. Was tasked to do this thing at work today but didn't do it, and it's needed urgently, so need to do on Monday, but Monday I'm going for course, so in the end Eugene has to do it because he's the only NSF going to be at work on Monday morning. I feel bad, but what to do?
Might be getting a new cellphone. My lovey is about to be an aunt!
Was out with Jasper just now. He's moved into the NUS hostel, and hasn't got his computer yet but he'll be getting a laptop soon. He says the NASA pillow isn't all it's cracked up to be. He says the Polar Express is a very nice, inspiring show. He says Clarissa is no longer the one, though the coin always says she is.
I'll be going to the course on Monday in civilian attire and just say that I wear civilian to work. Was tasked to do this thing at work today but didn't do it, and it's needed urgently, so need to do on Monday, but Monday I'm going for course, so in the end Eugene has to do it because he's the only NSF going to be at work on Monday morning. I feel bad, but what to do?
Might be getting a new cellphone. My lovey is about to be an aunt!
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
RJC's move to Bishan announced on TV news
Excellent, joyous news, news fit for announcing over a Christmas Feast. Jasper has procured a room in the NUS hostel! He's probably going to get a computer, and so I'll probably go with him and help him get a good deal. And that's not it, he's also going to be mentoring some JC students for this math camp! It's a great activity, and an opportunity to meet girls.
He's probably not joining us this Sunday because he's meeting professors for lunch. By the way, I tried to see if I could upgrade my mobile phone plan, but the next higher plan has 700 free minutes (compared with the 100 minutes I have now), which would entail a monthly fee of about 3 times the amount I'm paying now.
Supposed to go for this "course" next Monday, was informed today, and it happens I've got a medical on Monday, and I have to go for the course, so cancelled my medical appointment, and the soonest date I can reschedule is in January. Sheesh. And another thing. I'm supposed to be in military uniform to go for that course, which, as far as I can tell, is just a listen-to-people-talk thing, nothing remotely requiring camouflage. I can't fit into my uniform. I think my waist size was 30 then, and it's about 35 now.
Working on a new project at work now. Web programming.
He's probably not joining us this Sunday because he's meeting professors for lunch. By the way, I tried to see if I could upgrade my mobile phone plan, but the next higher plan has 700 free minutes (compared with the 100 minutes I have now), which would entail a monthly fee of about 3 times the amount I'm paying now.
Supposed to go for this "course" next Monday, was informed today, and it happens I've got a medical on Monday, and I have to go for the course, so cancelled my medical appointment, and the soonest date I can reschedule is in January. Sheesh. And another thing. I'm supposed to be in military uniform to go for that course, which, as far as I can tell, is just a listen-to-people-talk thing, nothing remotely requiring camouflage. I can't fit into my uniform. I think my waist size was 30 then, and it's about 35 now.
Working on a new project at work now. Web programming.
Monday, November 22, 2004
space technology
Jasper has informed me that he bought the "NASA" foam pillow, that's contoured and keeps its shape (like if you pressed your hand into it). One more thing is that it's "exactly" 7 weeks to Clarissa's birthday, but that's a guess.
Haha, Bush just said "nuculear". Geez. It's not nice to laugh at people, but I wouldn't laugh at him if he wasn't the president of the United States. Honest!
Anyway, was out with Jasper last Friday, and Orchard Road is all dolled up in Christmas clothes. I was wondering whether it makes economic sense for shops to actually spend money on decorations, whether that would draw more customers, or might it even be that shops that don't have decoration lose out.
So there was a crystal shop with "Merry Crystal" on the storefront window, and another "Merry Clinique", so you might have guessed "Merry Clarissa", well, perhaps even "Marry Clarissa". We were both somewhat tired and somewhat high on that lightheaded "not-quite-enough-sleep" feeling, as Jasper puts it, "losing inhibitions, gaining exhibitions".
According to him, there was a girl wearing the shortest skirt he'd ever seen in his favorite cafe in Orchard Road, which is not Cafe Revive in Marks and Spencers, but Sun Moulin Cafe, which has a view of Orchard Road (the cafe is on the 2nd floor). I didn't know that. Before that day, I would have bet that it was Cafe Revive.
Hmm... there's something in my notebook about when you're screwed you don't feel like screwing, but I forget why we even talked about this.
Haha, Bush just said "nuculear". Geez. It's not nice to laugh at people, but I wouldn't laugh at him if he wasn't the president of the United States. Honest!
Anyway, was out with Jasper last Friday, and Orchard Road is all dolled up in Christmas clothes. I was wondering whether it makes economic sense for shops to actually spend money on decorations, whether that would draw more customers, or might it even be that shops that don't have decoration lose out.
So there was a crystal shop with "Merry Crystal" on the storefront window, and another "Merry Clinique", so you might have guessed "Merry Clarissa", well, perhaps even "Marry Clarissa". We were both somewhat tired and somewhat high on that lightheaded "not-quite-enough-sleep" feeling, as Jasper puts it, "losing inhibitions, gaining exhibitions".
According to him, there was a girl wearing the shortest skirt he'd ever seen in his favorite cafe in Orchard Road, which is not Cafe Revive in Marks and Spencers, but Sun Moulin Cafe, which has a view of Orchard Road (the cafe is on the 2nd floor). I didn't know that. Before that day, I would have bet that it was Cafe Revive.
Hmm... there's something in my notebook about when you're screwed you don't feel like screwing, but I forget why we even talked about this.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
mobile phone charges
Great thing for free incoming calls! In Singapore they like to implement "free incoming" in such a way that they bill you first, then "discount" the amounts "made free" by the plan. For example, my local call charges were about $316, then they subtracted $261 for the incoming calls. This system works, but it'd be much more sensible to only show charges for usage that's not covered by the plan.
That's how they do it in US, but it's easier for them because the distinction they make between "peak-period" versus off-peak is usually that every minute costs X minutes during peak, but there's unlimited nights and weekends (each minute then costs 0 cents). Then each plan has say 300 free minutes, so when you get the bill, you get charged the monthly charge for your plan, plus any extra minutes you use.
But here, peak period might cost 20 cents, and off-peak 10 cents, so they total usage for the month, say $40, then the plan includes $20 worth of talk-time, but you pay $10 for the plan, so it's $10+$40-$20=$30 that you actually have to pay.
By the way, I was cleaning my glasses, and broke one of those plastic pieces that rest on the nose. So replaced both of these with those from my dad's old glasses. Oh, and in another by-the-way, Olinda's out of the Singapore Idol competition. It's great she got so far, I would have wanted her to win, because she's got an awesome voice, but you know, it's a popularity contest, and Singaporeans being quite superficial, she probably doesn't have groupies to vote for her.
That's how they do it in US, but it's easier for them because the distinction they make between "peak-period" versus off-peak is usually that every minute costs X minutes during peak, but there's unlimited nights and weekends (each minute then costs 0 cents). Then each plan has say 300 free minutes, so when you get the bill, you get charged the monthly charge for your plan, plus any extra minutes you use.
But here, peak period might cost 20 cents, and off-peak 10 cents, so they total usage for the month, say $40, then the plan includes $20 worth of talk-time, but you pay $10 for the plan, so it's $10+$40-$20=$30 that you actually have to pay.
By the way, I was cleaning my glasses, and broke one of those plastic pieces that rest on the nose. So replaced both of these with those from my dad's old glasses. Oh, and in another by-the-way, Olinda's out of the Singapore Idol competition. It's great she got so far, I would have wanted her to win, because she's got an awesome voice, but you know, it's a popularity contest, and Singaporeans being quite superficial, she probably doesn't have groupies to vote for her.
Casino City
There's an opinion piece in the Straits Times today, about the gambling thing, and whether Singapore should develop a resort that features a casino and other family entertainment. The gambling that is currently everywhere in Singapore: Toto, lottery, 4D, that kind of thing, betting on soccer, whether a nuclear holocaust with occur in our lifetime...
There are jackpot machines in some places, but it seems to be only in country clubs, as far as I can tell. So if people get addicted to fruit machines, at least they are somewhat rich. But the thing about Toto and 4D and stuff is that it's also "convenience gambling", just go NTUC can buy Toto, and this type of gambling is done in full view of kids and it can become quite routine that it doesn't even seem like gambling anymore. Not like when you go casino then you dress up and maybe set aside a wad of money to "invest". You just do your groceries and when you've paid for the milk powder you take the change and use it to buy some Toto.
The article quoted some US study about the socio-economic effects of gambling, they somehow managed to get some figure of about $5 billion spent in the US to like deal with problem gambling, and a figure of about $166 billion to deal with problem drinking (in the US).
Should Singapore have a casino? Is it akin to prostituting itself to tourists? The casino will probably make a lot of money, which the government can get a cut of and disburse to the general public, but where will this money come from? Also, casinos and the entertainment industry in general are really really "inefficient", in a sense. They spend so much money making the place look grand and expensive because they have a huge profit margin, so ultimately the people who gamble pay for these excesses when they lose money. Then the profit that comes out is still huge, but probably quite significantly reduced.
In a way it would be better if casinos could be bare-boned and then instead of building fantastic palaces, that money goes to feeding the poor.
I don't think gambling is a good thing, really, because it's not really rational. Basically, the odds are against you, and there isn't really anything you can do to change that. Ideally, people should be educated about things like these, but you can't actually guarantee that educated people are going to be rational, or even want to try to be.
There are jackpot machines in some places, but it seems to be only in country clubs, as far as I can tell. So if people get addicted to fruit machines, at least they are somewhat rich. But the thing about Toto and 4D and stuff is that it's also "convenience gambling", just go NTUC can buy Toto, and this type of gambling is done in full view of kids and it can become quite routine that it doesn't even seem like gambling anymore. Not like when you go casino then you dress up and maybe set aside a wad of money to "invest". You just do your groceries and when you've paid for the milk powder you take the change and use it to buy some Toto.
The article quoted some US study about the socio-economic effects of gambling, they somehow managed to get some figure of about $5 billion spent in the US to like deal with problem gambling, and a figure of about $166 billion to deal with problem drinking (in the US).
Should Singapore have a casino? Is it akin to prostituting itself to tourists? The casino will probably make a lot of money, which the government can get a cut of and disburse to the general public, but where will this money come from? Also, casinos and the entertainment industry in general are really really "inefficient", in a sense. They spend so much money making the place look grand and expensive because they have a huge profit margin, so ultimately the people who gamble pay for these excesses when they lose money. Then the profit that comes out is still huge, but probably quite significantly reduced.
In a way it would be better if casinos could be bare-boned and then instead of building fantastic palaces, that money goes to feeding the poor.
I don't think gambling is a good thing, really, because it's not really rational. Basically, the odds are against you, and there isn't really anything you can do to change that. Ideally, people should be educated about things like these, but you can't actually guarantee that educated people are going to be rational, or even want to try to be.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
footnotes on ineffect
argh, my computer hanged/hung and my post was lost. Anyway, I was talking about how they sold hummus at Cold Storage, in a small plastic container, one of the brands I eat before in US. Not that nice, not thick enough and not enough of that garbanzo flavor. They also had "fresh" hummus, in a deli-like display, alongside pulped olives and a variety of other dips, as well as whole olives and mushrooms and stuff. The catch was that they were out of hummus.
I bought a blender, so should be blending my own hummus soon. I've been rather ineffective at getting things done, see [1, 2]. Work, work, work... Anyway I installed OpenOffice.org on several of the computers at work. They had it available on the network drive for people like me to install and use.
So my computer hanged just now, so my firefox profile was "locked" and I couldn't use it. The solution is to go to your profile folder and delete the file named "lock" (for Unix). Then can use already. I hope it's not my hardware flaking out, and that after I install the new kernel everything should work like a charm.
------------------
[1] the poem I promised a long, long time ago? Still unwritten.
[2] supposed to rebuild the kernel since X-knows when... still not done, but at least I've begun writing my .config file using "make xconfig". Had to install several packages before the xconfig would work.
I bought a blender, so should be blending my own hummus soon. I've been rather ineffective at getting things done, see [1, 2]. Work, work, work... Anyway I installed OpenOffice.org on several of the computers at work. They had it available on the network drive for people like me to install and use.
So my computer hanged just now, so my firefox profile was "locked" and I couldn't use it. The solution is to go to your profile folder and delete the file named "lock" (for Unix). Then can use already. I hope it's not my hardware flaking out, and that after I install the new kernel everything should work like a charm.
------------------
[1] the poem I promised a long, long time ago? Still unwritten.
[2] supposed to rebuild the kernel since X-knows when... still not done, but at least I've begun writing my .config file using "make xconfig". Had to install several packages before the xconfig would work.
Monday, November 15, 2004
firefox!
ooooh, I just installed mozilla firefox using Debian's apt-get! Quite some time ago I tried unpacking the tarball and it failed, well anyway I just did the easy way, and I've got version 0.9.3 with preferences and such imported from mozilla 1.7.3, which I've been using on Debian.
KDE key bindings
Hey the KDE key bindings are real easy to configure. I just chose the "Windows" style global shortcut keys (without the Meta/Win key), and now I Ctrl-Tab to switch tabs in mozilla, as usual. Alt-Left and Alt-Right work for going back and going forward (somehow these latter combinations suffered from some key binding problems in GNOME).
Oh, I always wanted to note this, but haven't gotten down to it yet. To "export" an Excel toolbar (so the custom toolbar is available on another computer), you can "attach" it to an Excel workbook (open the workbook, right-click the toolbar, choose customize, then click the "attach" button).
I think I'm going to sleep.
Oh, I always wanted to note this, but haven't gotten down to it yet. To "export" an Excel toolbar (so the custom toolbar is available on another computer), you can "attach" it to an Excel workbook (open the workbook, right-click the toolbar, choose customize, then click the "attach" button).
I think I'm going to sleep.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
long post to make up for silence
"Surprise" birthday party for Aaron today, which wasn't much of a surprise. For one, our Sunday routine of gym-swim-eat at Bishan S-11 had become so predictable that Jasper asking to go to Bishan park after the swim without eating was tell-tale one. Tell-tale two: Jasper accidentally sent an SMS to Aaron instead of Peiling that "He says can consider Bishan park". Ok, suppose we ignore that, then Aaron asks where we're going to eat, Aaron says got restaurant at Bishan park, and we say ok, eat at that restaurant. Then Aaron speaks to Peiling and tells her he'll pick her up, and she says no need, she take cab, then she change and say she got her own way of getting there, then she say Say Yang picking her up...
Anyway, I almost killed GNOME. I tried to install a newer version, naively agreeing without doing anything special other than "apt-get install gnome-core". Totally killed it, because the newer version did not install successfully, so could not log in. So from a text console modified my /etc/apt/sources.list so that the testing and unstable sources were commented out, and then did "apt-get -f install" and that cleaned it up some, and re-installed the stable version of GNOME from the installation CD I burned several months ago. Now things are back to normal, I think, but I've switched to KDE (because that was not whacked), and this version of it at least (KDE 2.2.2) is much more modern than GNOME 1.4 that comes with Debian Woody. So perhaps I'll stick with KDE, though I'll probably fiddle with key-bindings soon (I'm so used to Ctrl-Tab in mozilla to switch browser tabs, but by default that switches virtual desktops). Also got to get used to 1-click being equivalent to double-click.
I guess I got a little carried away upgrading my software, because I upgraded AbiWord (word processor), and it looked really good. And the upgrade for that was smooth. Really starting to use my computer for stuff other than browsing the web, you see. Uninstalled a lot of stuff that I wasn't using, stuff that are security risks, like ssh, telnet daemons. Installed xscreensaver, but actually KDE has a built-in screen-saver that's "matrix" themed, green characters (glyphs) intermittently written down the screen. Also fired up the GIMP and did the initial configuration. Also wrote a super simple shell script consisting only of the line
su -c "shutdown -h now"
and I saved the executable as /usr/local/bin/shalt
I'm quite glad that I managed to get myself out of the apt-get mess, which might not seem like much, but it's a great feeling to know that I can extract the bullet from my foot. Of course, it's still the mighty apt-get, which is uber-powerful and eminently easy to use. It's not like I was dealing with source code. Starting to use "grep" also for scanning text files. Have quite a lot of things to do on Monday... definitely plan to really really configure and install a new kernel. I think my parents want to go shopping in town also.
Interesting that if you don't really follow Singapore Idol, before you know it there are only 3 contestants left. My room is quite well decorated now. Did some painting with my cousins, abstract art pieces, then I did a few more after they left. The first piece I did was for Aaron, who liked it, and Jasper liked it too.
This is the site my lovey recommended, with statistics on the US election. One part of it really stumps me. It's the part where they ask people who they'd vote for "IF ONLY BUSH AND KERRY WERE RUNNING". Then 1% say they would not have voted, but looking at who they actually voted, it was 29% Bush, 38% Kerry, 11% Nader. This makes no sense. The only sensible statistic should have been 100% Nader, because it's only Nader besides Bush and Kerry who were running!!!
For those who thought honesty was the "most important quality", they report that 70% voted for Bush. For household income less than $50,000, which was about 45% of those polled, 55% voted for Kerry, and for those over $50,000, 56% voted for Bush.
Gurmit Singh on TV telling people to get pets only if they're committed, that abandoning their pet should never be an option. I endorse the message. There's also been quite a lot of ads recently about mental illness, on TV or at bus stops, there was one I saw that day one bus stop away from my house, about Churchill having manic-depressive disorder, I think, and ending with a message that roughly 1 in 5 people suffer from some kind of mental illness (e.g. phobia) in their lifetimes, so it's important to be aware, to be understanding and inclusive.
Found a bottle of tahini in a supermarket, then bought garbanzo beans (chick peas) in a can, and there's olive oil at home, which are the ingredients needed for hummus. It's silly that they don't seem to sell hummus in supermarkets here. The only thing I lack is a blender to grind the chick peas into paste...
Anyway, I almost killed GNOME. I tried to install a newer version, naively agreeing without doing anything special other than "apt-get install gnome-core". Totally killed it, because the newer version did not install successfully, so could not log in. So from a text console modified my /etc/apt/sources.list so that the testing and unstable sources were commented out, and then did "apt-get -f install" and that cleaned it up some, and re-installed the stable version of GNOME from the installation CD I burned several months ago. Now things are back to normal, I think, but I've switched to KDE (because that was not whacked), and this version of it at least (KDE 2.2.2) is much more modern than GNOME 1.4 that comes with Debian Woody. So perhaps I'll stick with KDE, though I'll probably fiddle with key-bindings soon (I'm so used to Ctrl-Tab in mozilla to switch browser tabs, but by default that switches virtual desktops). Also got to get used to 1-click being equivalent to double-click.
I guess I got a little carried away upgrading my software, because I upgraded AbiWord (word processor), and it looked really good. And the upgrade for that was smooth. Really starting to use my computer for stuff other than browsing the web, you see. Uninstalled a lot of stuff that I wasn't using, stuff that are security risks, like ssh, telnet daemons. Installed xscreensaver, but actually KDE has a built-in screen-saver that's "matrix" themed, green characters (glyphs) intermittently written down the screen. Also fired up the GIMP and did the initial configuration. Also wrote a super simple shell script consisting only of the line
su -c "shutdown -h now"
and I saved the executable as /usr/local/bin/shalt
I'm quite glad that I managed to get myself out of the apt-get mess, which might not seem like much, but it's a great feeling to know that I can extract the bullet from my foot. Of course, it's still the mighty apt-get, which is uber-powerful and eminently easy to use. It's not like I was dealing with source code. Starting to use "grep" also for scanning text files. Have quite a lot of things to do on Monday... definitely plan to really really configure and install a new kernel. I think my parents want to go shopping in town also.
Interesting that if you don't really follow Singapore Idol, before you know it there are only 3 contestants left. My room is quite well decorated now. Did some painting with my cousins, abstract art pieces, then I did a few more after they left. The first piece I did was for Aaron, who liked it, and Jasper liked it too.
This is the site my lovey recommended, with statistics on the US election. One part of it really stumps me. It's the part where they ask people who they'd vote for "IF ONLY BUSH AND KERRY WERE RUNNING". Then 1% say they would not have voted, but looking at who they actually voted, it was 29% Bush, 38% Kerry, 11% Nader. This makes no sense. The only sensible statistic should have been 100% Nader, because it's only Nader besides Bush and Kerry who were running!!!
For those who thought honesty was the "most important quality", they report that 70% voted for Bush. For household income less than $50,000, which was about 45% of those polled, 55% voted for Kerry, and for those over $50,000, 56% voted for Bush.
Gurmit Singh on TV telling people to get pets only if they're committed, that abandoning their pet should never be an option. I endorse the message. There's also been quite a lot of ads recently about mental illness, on TV or at bus stops, there was one I saw that day one bus stop away from my house, about Churchill having manic-depressive disorder, I think, and ending with a message that roughly 1 in 5 people suffer from some kind of mental illness (e.g. phobia) in their lifetimes, so it's important to be aware, to be understanding and inclusive.
Found a bottle of tahini in a supermarket, then bought garbanzo beans (chick peas) in a can, and there's olive oil at home, which are the ingredients needed for hummus. It's silly that they don't seem to sell hummus in supermarkets here. The only thing I lack is a blender to grind the chick peas into paste...
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
bank robbery
In the news today, someone robbed a bank in Singapore using a plastic gun replica. He was shot twice by a security guard, and I think he's still alive.
For many people in the office, it's the weekend already. Many taking leave on Friday, and since Thursday and Monday are public holidays...
Stupid advertisement on TV. "Extrim", take 2 pills before a meal and pig out without guilt because it blocks calories. That's an extremely unhealthy message to send out, delivered by an extremely thin model-like model. "So now I can eat what I like", as though previously you can't, and shouldn't.
Why does a footballer get disqualified for taking drugs, if those drugs aren't performance enhancing? Like cocaine? I mean, yes, civil/criminal penalties, but what does the sport have to do with it? I guess they want to have good values in sports. It's not hard to see from watching the news that you see tragedy after tragedy, stuff that makes you angry and outraged if you aren't already hardened and immune, then towards the end they give the sporting results to cheer you up and give you something else to think about, to be distracted with.
Jurassic Park III on TV. Didn't know there was a III already. Think I'll probably watch.
I miss my lovey...
For many people in the office, it's the weekend already. Many taking leave on Friday, and since Thursday and Monday are public holidays...
Stupid advertisement on TV. "Extrim", take 2 pills before a meal and pig out without guilt because it blocks calories. That's an extremely unhealthy message to send out, delivered by an extremely thin model-like model. "So now I can eat what I like", as though previously you can't, and shouldn't.
Why does a footballer get disqualified for taking drugs, if those drugs aren't performance enhancing? Like cocaine? I mean, yes, civil/criminal penalties, but what does the sport have to do with it? I guess they want to have good values in sports. It's not hard to see from watching the news that you see tragedy after tragedy, stuff that makes you angry and outraged if you aren't already hardened and immune, then towards the end they give the sporting results to cheer you up and give you something else to think about, to be distracted with.
Jurassic Park III on TV. Didn't know there was a III already. Think I'll probably watch.
I miss my lovey...
Monday, November 08, 2004
fake milk powder!
This is horrible. In China these distributors were selling "milk powder" with no nutritional value and many babies died and many more are in hospital, from malnourishment.
medical updates
So, it seems the NS medical benefits is no big deal. There's an annual cap of $240, and they don't subsidise if you see a specialist without a referral from a polyclinic. That $240 cap also makes it very unappealing for me to bother with all the claim stuff and the seemingly impossible task of changing from "private" to "subsidised" status...
Anyway, it seems I'm no longer in the immuno-tolerant phase regarding Hepatitis B. I'm now probably in the immuno-clearance phase. Blood test-wise, this means that I used to be
Hep B e-antigen: +ve
Hep B e-antibody: -ve
while now, it's become
Hep B e-antigen: +ve
Hep B e-antibody: +ve
which means that my body is fighting the virus, so dunno what the outcome will be. Will the viruses win? Those wily helical, geometrically symmetric and beautiful creatures that they are? Or will my antibodies prevail, those glob-like things swallowing stuff into their amorphous flesh in acts of mutual destruction?
Just did an "apt-get install xpdf" and I can now view PDFs beautifully on my linux box. Maybe it is an old version, but gv wasn't displaying PDFs quite so properly.
I guess I haven't been updating this much. Well, Bush won, as everyone knows. Nader lost. Oh well. From the news it seems one of Bush's first acts as re-elected president is to work on that constitutional amendment.
There's so much crap on TV, ever since people discovered reality TV and really made it fly. The sitcoms are still good, you know, the stuff like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. Reality TV gets all the viewers though, disgusting stuff like 'The Swan', 'Fear Factor' (which isn't all disgusting, only the stuff to do with gross stuff), but there's good stuff of course, like The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, the saner stuff...
Won't be at work much this week. Took leave today, and Thursday is holiday, and next Monday is holiday again! Still haven't built my kernel, maybe on Thursday? Anyway, quite pissed now regarding the NS medical benefits. $240 amounts only to $20 a month on average, and already the "allowance" they give hardly covers living expenses. It's not hard to see why those in poor families would risk going AWOL in order to make money to support their families.
The world is in shambles as usual. Japan has suffered its 3rd quake in succession, I think. Lots of homes destroyed, people dead and injured. Unrest in the middle east. Another major offensive in Iraq. Nuclear threats here and there. Terrorists threatening to kill hostages.
Anyway, it seems I'm no longer in the immuno-tolerant phase regarding Hepatitis B. I'm now probably in the immuno-clearance phase. Blood test-wise, this means that I used to be
Hep B e-antigen: +ve
Hep B e-antibody: -ve
while now, it's become
Hep B e-antigen: +ve
Hep B e-antibody: +ve
which means that my body is fighting the virus, so dunno what the outcome will be. Will the viruses win? Those wily helical, geometrically symmetric and beautiful creatures that they are? Or will my antibodies prevail, those glob-like things swallowing stuff into their amorphous flesh in acts of mutual destruction?
Just did an "apt-get install xpdf" and I can now view PDFs beautifully on my linux box. Maybe it is an old version, but gv wasn't displaying PDFs quite so properly.
I guess I haven't been updating this much. Well, Bush won, as everyone knows. Nader lost. Oh well. From the news it seems one of Bush's first acts as re-elected president is to work on that constitutional amendment.
There's so much crap on TV, ever since people discovered reality TV and really made it fly. The sitcoms are still good, you know, the stuff like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. Reality TV gets all the viewers though, disgusting stuff like 'The Swan', 'Fear Factor' (which isn't all disgusting, only the stuff to do with gross stuff), but there's good stuff of course, like The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, the saner stuff...
Won't be at work much this week. Took leave today, and Thursday is holiday, and next Monday is holiday again! Still haven't built my kernel, maybe on Thursday? Anyway, quite pissed now regarding the NS medical benefits. $240 amounts only to $20 a month on average, and already the "allowance" they give hardly covers living expenses. It's not hard to see why those in poor families would risk going AWOL in order to make money to support their families.
The world is in shambles as usual. Japan has suffered its 3rd quake in succession, I think. Lots of homes destroyed, people dead and injured. Unrest in the middle east. Another major offensive in Iraq. Nuclear threats here and there. Terrorists threatening to kill hostages.
Monday, November 01, 2004
broken plates
Anyway, Fear Factor was on TV (quite a disgusting and unwholesome show in general, really), and they were doing something with using their mouths to pick up raw internal organs (of some animal, perhaps even a human?) off plates on a conveyor belt, and the plates smash on the ground when they reach the end of the belt, and my mom was like "they're letting the plates drop!"
Everybody Loves Raymond is funny. I'm supposed to get some exercise in the evenings because there's really no other time when I can. But not tonight; quite tired now... had about 5 squares of dark chocolate after dinner. Yummy.
Just heard this on the news: China is condemning the arrogance of Bush.
Everybody Loves Raymond is funny. I'm supposed to get some exercise in the evenings because there's really no other time when I can. But not tonight; quite tired now... had about 5 squares of dark chocolate after dinner. Yummy.
Just heard this on the news: China is condemning the arrogance of Bush.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
good news!
This is a piece about drug prices in America:
http://www.princeton.edu/~xlim/sethi.html
Anyway, Jasper has confirmed with me that Clarissa is the one. So I'll just pass that information on to anyone who's reading this blog. I don't think he means it in the way that they're planning to get married just yet, so no need to rush with the congratulations.
The other day, on the MRT going to see the cholesterol specialist (who's a great doctor by the way, explains stuff to me using biological/chemical/medical terminology, which is very helpful--about the different metabolic pathway and hydrophilic tendencies of Rosuvastatin (Crestor), which makes it a good drug for me, with my liver condition.), this lady was seated opposite me. By the way, I apologize for that probably practically incoherent and messy sentence I just made.
She had a nasty rash, her skin looked horrible, the skin on her legs was cracked and scarred, and she was scratching at her face, neck, and legs the whole time. I hope she sees a doctor, but something tells me she might not.
This is an interesting line that ends this article:
[ http://www.princeton.edu/~xlim/shimp.html ]
"Until there is a president who deserves eight years in office, let Princetonians do their part to limit the losers to four."
http://www.princeton.edu/~xlim/sethi.html
Anyway, Jasper has confirmed with me that Clarissa is the one. So I'll just pass that information on to anyone who's reading this blog. I don't think he means it in the way that they're planning to get married just yet, so no need to rush with the congratulations.
The other day, on the MRT going to see the cholesterol specialist (who's a great doctor by the way, explains stuff to me using biological/chemical/medical terminology, which is very helpful--about the different metabolic pathway and hydrophilic tendencies of Rosuvastatin (Crestor), which makes it a good drug for me, with my liver condition.), this lady was seated opposite me. By the way, I apologize for that probably practically incoherent and messy sentence I just made.
She had a nasty rash, her skin looked horrible, the skin on her legs was cracked and scarred, and she was scratching at her face, neck, and legs the whole time. I hope she sees a doctor, but something tells me she might not.
This is an interesting line that ends this article:
[ http://www.princeton.edu/~xlim/shimp.html ]
"Until there is a president who deserves eight years in office, let Princetonians do their part to limit the losers to four."
Thursday, October 28, 2004
dead by forty
Saw the cholesterol specialist today, and I'll be starting my medication right away. He estimates that with my current levels of LDL and HDL, it's probable that I'll get my first heart attack before I turn 40, if I don't go on medication. That would totally suck.
The Practice is cool, all these crazy legal technicalities... makes you feel like just throwing out law and make lawyers break privilege if they know anything incriminating about their clients. Recently there was this episode when this pregnant woman, her baby due very soon, on trial for murdering her husband. Her story was that her husband was abusive and almost killed her baby (her pregnancy had just begun at that time), and so she took a gun and shot him to defend the baby.
There were Roe vs. Wade strands weaving through it, the issue being whether the baby could be considered a human life or whatever you want to call it, whether she was justified in defending her baby and killing a full-grown man. The neighbor testified to the husband being abusive and stuff like that, that he heard them quarrelling quite often, that kind of thing. In the end the lawyers won using the argument that a foetus is not a "life" only in the office of a doctor performing an abortion.
The jury ruled not guilty, but just before the verdict, she was in contractions, and was rushed to the hospital. So her lawyers went to the hospital to bring her the good news, and... Ok, she is white, her husband was white, the neighbor is black, and the baby is black. Yesterday was the last episode. I think Boston Public is still showing, I think it's on Star World (cable). Not sure what time, maybe 8+ or so on a weekday.
Anyway, about my cholesterol, the doctor thinks I'm probably heterozygous with a gene that causes high cholesterol, and if I were homozygous I would probably have a heart attack in my teens. So if I pass on my genes, there's like a 25% chance that my kid is heterozygous like me, assuming of course that I pass on my genes in the traditional manner, and that my lovey doesn't have this condition.
Did an "apt-get upgrade" of my Debian distro last night. Should be able to configure to use a new kernel tonight. Probably taking the easy way out for my first try at least, using Debian packages and 'apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.7'. Just thinking of what to say. I think Jasper wanted me to say something, but I'm confused. He either decided that Clarissa is "the one", or it might have been the other way round, that he's decided that Flame Tree is "the one".
The nurses were very friendly to me today. When I arrived, I showed by 11-B (that's my NS IC, for those who don't know) and checked that the SAF would pick up the tab. Didn't have to pay today. Later, one nurse noticed the doggie on my bag, and asked if I brought that bag to NS. I said yah, that I work at MINDEF, so I actually don't even need to wear uniform. I think she said she got a doggie soft toy or something for her son, who's about 1/2 a year into his NS, and he didn't want to bring it with him.
Then she inquired about stuff like where I did uni, that kind of thing, I told them that I disrupted, that kind of thing, teaching scholarship, teach for 5 years, etc. Another nurse said she's worried that after her son finish NS he won't want to study anymore, though now he still say he wants to go uni.
The Practice is cool, all these crazy legal technicalities... makes you feel like just throwing out law and make lawyers break privilege if they know anything incriminating about their clients. Recently there was this episode when this pregnant woman, her baby due very soon, on trial for murdering her husband. Her story was that her husband was abusive and almost killed her baby (her pregnancy had just begun at that time), and so she took a gun and shot him to defend the baby.
There were Roe vs. Wade strands weaving through it, the issue being whether the baby could be considered a human life or whatever you want to call it, whether she was justified in defending her baby and killing a full-grown man. The neighbor testified to the husband being abusive and stuff like that, that he heard them quarrelling quite often, that kind of thing. In the end the lawyers won using the argument that a foetus is not a "life" only in the office of a doctor performing an abortion.
The jury ruled not guilty, but just before the verdict, she was in contractions, and was rushed to the hospital. So her lawyers went to the hospital to bring her the good news, and... Ok, she is white, her husband was white, the neighbor is black, and the baby is black. Yesterday was the last episode. I think Boston Public is still showing, I think it's on Star World (cable). Not sure what time, maybe 8+ or so on a weekday.
Anyway, about my cholesterol, the doctor thinks I'm probably heterozygous with a gene that causes high cholesterol, and if I were homozygous I would probably have a heart attack in my teens. So if I pass on my genes, there's like a 25% chance that my kid is heterozygous like me, assuming of course that I pass on my genes in the traditional manner, and that my lovey doesn't have this condition.
Did an "apt-get upgrade" of my Debian distro last night. Should be able to configure to use a new kernel tonight. Probably taking the easy way out for my first try at least, using Debian packages and 'apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.7'. Just thinking of what to say. I think Jasper wanted me to say something, but I'm confused. He either decided that Clarissa is "the one", or it might have been the other way round, that he's decided that Flame Tree is "the one".
The nurses were very friendly to me today. When I arrived, I showed by 11-B (that's my NS IC, for those who don't know) and checked that the SAF would pick up the tab. Didn't have to pay today. Later, one nurse noticed the doggie on my bag, and asked if I brought that bag to NS. I said yah, that I work at MINDEF, so I actually don't even need to wear uniform. I think she said she got a doggie soft toy or something for her son, who's about 1/2 a year into his NS, and he didn't want to bring it with him.
Then she inquired about stuff like where I did uni, that kind of thing, I told them that I disrupted, that kind of thing, teaching scholarship, teach for 5 years, etc. Another nurse said she's worried that after her son finish NS he won't want to study anymore, though now he still say he wants to go uni.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Saturday, October 23, 2004
gz booked out!
gz: got hives lah.
Anyway, it was a far cry from an auditorium filled with eager medical students. Well, nothing wrong with delusions of grandeur. What it came down to was that each of us specimens were sent to a consultation room, and it was for a group of 6 doctors (refresher training perhaps?). They were just being shown various dermatological diseases, though in my room, unfortunately, try as I might, they didn't quite get their value-for-money. Today was just not a day for my hives, seems like I'm getting better! They essentially did a no-show (peeked out a little in a tiny patch, but clearly stage-frightened).
I was paid $25 for my troubles. Going to Seletar again tomorrow. Going to try to upgrade my kernel now. I miss my lovey a whole lot. A whole loot. Poot poot.
Anyway, it was a far cry from an auditorium filled with eager medical students. Well, nothing wrong with delusions of grandeur. What it came down to was that each of us specimens were sent to a consultation room, and it was for a group of 6 doctors (refresher training perhaps?). They were just being shown various dermatological diseases, though in my room, unfortunately, try as I might, they didn't quite get their value-for-money. Today was just not a day for my hives, seems like I'm getting better! They essentially did a no-show (peeked out a little in a tiny patch, but clearly stage-frightened).
I was paid $25 for my troubles. Going to Seletar again tomorrow. Going to try to upgrade my kernel now. I miss my lovey a whole lot. A whole loot. Poot poot.
Friday, October 22, 2004
programming
It was raining when I got home. Was with Jasper just now. Was so tired. I made him tired too. Lost inhibitions and talked loudly and laughed more. I was sleeping intermittently on the bus. Next to me was this Indian couple, and it seems they were quarrelling quite bitterly. I kinda slept through it, but I think most of the other people on the bus noticed their quarrel. Jasper said the guy sounded quite fierce, he almost wanted to ask the woman if she wanted to report to police or something.
Anyway, Jasper reminds me that I left the water heater issue hanging. The next day my dad got a new water heater and it's been installed for quite some time already. It's so nice to sleep now because it's raining.
My boss's boss is quite satisfied with my work, and asked for a few more features. My boss is very happy with the work I've done, and am doing. On that thought, I leave you, dear reader. I hope that when I'm done with the current project I get to do something as interesting...
Anyway, Jasper reminds me that I left the water heater issue hanging. The next day my dad got a new water heater and it's been installed for quite some time already. It's so nice to sleep now because it's raining.
My boss's boss is quite satisfied with my work, and asked for a few more features. My boss is very happy with the work I've done, and am doing. On that thought, I leave you, dear reader. I hope that when I'm done with the current project I get to do something as interesting...
specimen
Went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National Skin Center yesterday; this is the year that medical students my age are doing their hospital attachments and all. So I was being seen by the skin specialist and in the room were two medical students, both from RJ (I see their face before but don't really know them).
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to announce is that there's some conference or presentation or something this Saturday, and I'm invited. I'm invited sort of like a keynote speaker, but my mouth won't really be doing the speaking, my hives will. They were desperately looking for someone with hives so the medical students can see a live specimen, so I agreed, in the name of science. I guess I could also meet the medical students I know: actually saw Chunrong entering the Skin Center just as I was leaving, so I told him about it, and will probably be seeing him on Saturday.
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to announce is that there's some conference or presentation or something this Saturday, and I'm invited. I'm invited sort of like a keynote speaker, but my mouth won't really be doing the speaking, my hives will. They were desperately looking for someone with hives so the medical students can see a live specimen, so I agreed, in the name of science. I guess I could also meet the medical students I know: actually saw Chunrong entering the Skin Center just as I was leaving, so I told him about it, and will probably be seeing him on Saturday.
Monday, October 18, 2004
baby on board
It's raining outside. Spent the whole day sleeping after I got back from the doctor. Took MC today, didn't feel up to a day of work. Down with a cough and cold. As an NSF, I'm supposed to get full medical benefits: show 11-B at government clinic and SAF will pay for me. But was told at the polyclinic that somehow my card was not valid. I called some SAF number and after a few transfers, they said my medical benefits not yet activated, need to get my boss to contact their boss, but their boss on leave... Bottom line is that until this all gets sorted out, I'll have to pay first and claim later, which is always a risky proposition, but I guess I have no choice.
On the subject of cars, I think hybrids are the way to go. Theoretically (and naively) they offer an up-to 100% increase in mileage. The basic principle is that when braking, normal cars use the frictional force from applying brake pads to the wheels to slow down and stop. All the kinetic energy the car had is lost to friction, and this amount of energy is roughly how much it took to get the car up to that speed initially.
In a hybrid, the battery is charged up using the energy otherwise lost when braking. It works like a dynamo or a windmill, generating energy from the moving wheels. Of course, one could charge the battery while the car is accelerating, but that makes little sense unless the battery is close to dead, because this would slow the car down. The battery is less powerful than gas-power, but it is more efficient at low speeds, and it can supplement the gas-power when the driver needs more acceleration.
According to
http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html
"Toyota has announced plans to offer hybrid versions of all their high-volume cars by 2007", which is great news.
Bush and Kerry are losers for not being brave and honorable enough to invite Nader into their debates. I'm sure any of them could have said anything and got him into the debates. Just too scared to look worse than him. Acting in their self-interest: Bush would look stupid compared to anybody, and Kerry probably knows Nader is a brilliant thinker and activist. None of them cares to offer the American public a chance to know about this other option they have in voting, and is content with pushing their plan even if there might be a better one.
I think abortion is certainly a form of murder when the baby has developed past a certain level, though I would expect that this level is hardly well-defined and can be quite different for different people. The law currently defines this level to be when the baby is completely past the cervix, which in most cases is aligned with the point in time when the baby can breathe and feed by herself. (Of course, a baby might be born prematurely and require intensive care, etc.)
As such, abortion should be allowed only in cases where there's say threat to the woman's life. Though I wouldn't go all the way and ban the "abortion" of a fertilized egg, I think. This would mean that abortion won't be allowed even for rape victims, but I think a "morning after" pill is morally acceptable. I guess the perspective of the "pro-choice" camp is mostly that the woman has a right to "control" her body and what happens to it. In the way she can decide to amputate her legs if she wishes, or cut her hair, or inject all sorts of hormones into her body.
I guess that means someone should have the right to kill herself. With regard to suicide, I think someone who attempts suicide shouldn't go to jail, but I'm guessing the "illegality" of suicide means there will perhaps be some kind of compulsory treatment or therapy, which I support.
Perhaps I might say that ideally we could get round this moral problem by a technological advance: find a cheap, sustainable method of bringing babies to term outside of a body. Because the current state of affairs means either the baby dies or the baby has to live in the womb, possibly against the will of the mother. Ultimately, the womb is the main source of inequality between the sexes, when you look at the workplace, because having a baby has quite an impact on lifestyle and mobility, for several weeks at least. I mean before the baby is born, that is; after the baby is born, the inequality is largely societally created.
Even still, it's just several weeks, maybe a month or two, for each pregnancy... It should be quite negligible when companies give parental leave (of several months), and that is taken into account. Equal rights for men and women!!
It seems Bush will win, because the polls say he's up by 8%. Oh well.
My laptop hasn't been too happy lately. But it's certainly happier with linux than with Windows. It's back to work tomorrow. I'm feeling better. Still not ready to jump around, but well. Bush seems to be going to win anyway. All's right with democracy. I wonder if he'll be assasinated by some crazed liberal. But that might mean that his vice president becomes president, which could be worse...
I'm going to bring a box of tissues to office. I should probably sleep soon. My M1 mobile plan has also been changed to a free incoming call plan. It should be in effect already. Everyone should know why this is much needed.
On the subject of cars, I think hybrids are the way to go. Theoretically (and naively) they offer an up-to 100% increase in mileage. The basic principle is that when braking, normal cars use the frictional force from applying brake pads to the wheels to slow down and stop. All the kinetic energy the car had is lost to friction, and this amount of energy is roughly how much it took to get the car up to that speed initially.
In a hybrid, the battery is charged up using the energy otherwise lost when braking. It works like a dynamo or a windmill, generating energy from the moving wheels. Of course, one could charge the battery while the car is accelerating, but that makes little sense unless the battery is close to dead, because this would slow the car down. The battery is less powerful than gas-power, but it is more efficient at low speeds, and it can supplement the gas-power when the driver needs more acceleration.
According to
http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html
"Toyota has announced plans to offer hybrid versions of all their high-volume cars by 2007", which is great news.
Bush and Kerry are losers for not being brave and honorable enough to invite Nader into their debates. I'm sure any of them could have said anything and got him into the debates. Just too scared to look worse than him. Acting in their self-interest: Bush would look stupid compared to anybody, and Kerry probably knows Nader is a brilliant thinker and activist. None of them cares to offer the American public a chance to know about this other option they have in voting, and is content with pushing their plan even if there might be a better one.
I think abortion is certainly a form of murder when the baby has developed past a certain level, though I would expect that this level is hardly well-defined and can be quite different for different people. The law currently defines this level to be when the baby is completely past the cervix, which in most cases is aligned with the point in time when the baby can breathe and feed by herself. (Of course, a baby might be born prematurely and require intensive care, etc.)
As such, abortion should be allowed only in cases where there's say threat to the woman's life. Though I wouldn't go all the way and ban the "abortion" of a fertilized egg, I think. This would mean that abortion won't be allowed even for rape victims, but I think a "morning after" pill is morally acceptable. I guess the perspective of the "pro-choice" camp is mostly that the woman has a right to "control" her body and what happens to it. In the way she can decide to amputate her legs if she wishes, or cut her hair, or inject all sorts of hormones into her body.
I guess that means someone should have the right to kill herself. With regard to suicide, I think someone who attempts suicide shouldn't go to jail, but I'm guessing the "illegality" of suicide means there will perhaps be some kind of compulsory treatment or therapy, which I support.
Perhaps I might say that ideally we could get round this moral problem by a technological advance: find a cheap, sustainable method of bringing babies to term outside of a body. Because the current state of affairs means either the baby dies or the baby has to live in the womb, possibly against the will of the mother. Ultimately, the womb is the main source of inequality between the sexes, when you look at the workplace, because having a baby has quite an impact on lifestyle and mobility, for several weeks at least. I mean before the baby is born, that is; after the baby is born, the inequality is largely societally created.
Even still, it's just several weeks, maybe a month or two, for each pregnancy... It should be quite negligible when companies give parental leave (of several months), and that is taken into account. Equal rights for men and women!!
It seems Bush will win, because the polls say he's up by 8%. Oh well.
My laptop hasn't been too happy lately. But it's certainly happier with linux than with Windows. It's back to work tomorrow. I'm feeling better. Still not ready to jump around, but well. Bush seems to be going to win anyway. All's right with democracy. I wonder if he'll be assasinated by some crazed liberal. But that might mean that his vice president becomes president, which could be worse...
I'm going to bring a box of tissues to office. I should probably sleep soon. My M1 mobile plan has also been changed to a free incoming call plan. It should be in effect already. Everyone should know why this is much needed.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
hives
dammit, my medication runs out and the hives are back in full force. and i've caught a cold/cough from a guy at the office. he was ill on wednesday and on thursday 2 others got MC and one of them had 2 days MC. so i've been feeling ill for 3 days now.
the other day saw a spider (the kind with the very thin, spindly legs, that looks so frail and wispy) wrap up an insect (the "flying ant" insect, whatever it's called) and carry it off. it did this while perched in front of the speakers attached to my computer.
it seems my parents are considering getting a new car. as in, a new old car possibly. i hope they get the Prius, and one can certainly always hope. then again, we might not get a new car.
the other day saw a spider (the kind with the very thin, spindly legs, that looks so frail and wispy) wrap up an insect (the "flying ant" insect, whatever it's called) and carry it off. it did this while perched in front of the speakers attached to my computer.
it seems my parents are considering getting a new car. as in, a new old car possibly. i hope they get the Prius, and one can certainly always hope. then again, we might not get a new car.
Monday, October 11, 2004
sounds of nature
So anyway, the heater in my bathroom broke down, so it leaked and was dripping the whole night. So, for one night, the semi-annoying semi-soothing sound of water falling and hitting the ground. A waterfall, a fountain, a defunct heater tank.
"Rant against pants". Without pockets. Just thought of that phrase today while waiting for the bus, I think.
This other day I was watching TV (but I watch TV a lot nowadays anyway), and it was a fascinating show on the animal kingdom. Dogs hunting in packs, compared with wolves hunting in packs, and versus hyenas hunting in packs. Each got their own styles and targets and strategies dependent on their level of socialization and their physical abilities.
Wolves are powerful and fierce and would kill each other, so that's why they have an alpha-male alpha-female system so that everyone accepts the hierarchy and there aren't excessive fights amongst each other. There's only one wolf eating the carcass at one time. Contrast this with dogs, I think, which have no problems sharing.
Then a school of fish, fleeing from being eaten, swimming together in choreographed motions, swinging in one direction and then abruptedly in another arc, the light shimmering off their aligned bodies and confusing the predator(s). The thing is that both prey and predator are generally weaker when split from others. A strategy of many predators is to chase in such a way that eventually the weakest member of the prey pack breaks away and is thus subsequently quite screwed.
Then got this animal so cute one, the one in Ice Age the cartoon movie I think, was it called a mere cat or something? The group has a sentry on rotation, and then the squirrels also "subscribe" to this lookout service, getting warnings of danger for free.
And the tiny monkeys are so cute, they have so much fun, swinging from vines and stuff, and they got a word for snake also, and another one for eagle, so when they make sound all of them know whether to lookout for snake on the ground or take cover to hide from eagle overhead.
Anyway, it's amazing the organized behavior of groups of animals. The fishy reflex and rhythm must be built into their muscles for them to do synchronized swimming. Practice makes perfect, and I guess there's nothing like knowing you'll be eaten that gets you going.
Been really busy, coding in Visual Basic for Applications (the MS Office version of VB), but what I'm supposed to do is quite involved, so the plan now is to just copy. No more macros, just worksheet functions, a working template of which has already been developed by other departments. So I just need to fiddle and faddle a bit with it to modify it for our needs.
Boston Public, a show about a public school, is so touching. Stuff about students, teaching, that kind of thing, school being understaffed, students eager to learn but shortchanged by the system that wants to see "results", young men and women challenging themselves to do more than others think possible...
There was this suggestion in the show to make all schools private, funded by skimming 1% of all future salary of all alumni of the school. A social security type "tax". Definitely sounds like a good idea because if it's left to the government they'd sooner create another nuclear bomb than set aside more funds for education.
So, lots of people are actually working in MINDEF. Daniel Huei, Adrian Foo, and still more others I don't know the names of (but I recognize their faces lah). I should probably go sleep soon; need to get a lot done tomorrow with Excel... hopefully it's not too much work, and it shouldn't be, since I can mostly copy and paste spreadsheets.
"Rant against pants". Without pockets. Just thought of that phrase today while waiting for the bus, I think.
This other day I was watching TV (but I watch TV a lot nowadays anyway), and it was a fascinating show on the animal kingdom. Dogs hunting in packs, compared with wolves hunting in packs, and versus hyenas hunting in packs. Each got their own styles and targets and strategies dependent on their level of socialization and their physical abilities.
Wolves are powerful and fierce and would kill each other, so that's why they have an alpha-male alpha-female system so that everyone accepts the hierarchy and there aren't excessive fights amongst each other. There's only one wolf eating the carcass at one time. Contrast this with dogs, I think, which have no problems sharing.
Then a school of fish, fleeing from being eaten, swimming together in choreographed motions, swinging in one direction and then abruptedly in another arc, the light shimmering off their aligned bodies and confusing the predator(s). The thing is that both prey and predator are generally weaker when split from others. A strategy of many predators is to chase in such a way that eventually the weakest member of the prey pack breaks away and is thus subsequently quite screwed.
Then got this animal so cute one, the one in Ice Age the cartoon movie I think, was it called a mere cat or something? The group has a sentry on rotation, and then the squirrels also "subscribe" to this lookout service, getting warnings of danger for free.
And the tiny monkeys are so cute, they have so much fun, swinging from vines and stuff, and they got a word for snake also, and another one for eagle, so when they make sound all of them know whether to lookout for snake on the ground or take cover to hide from eagle overhead.
Anyway, it's amazing the organized behavior of groups of animals. The fishy reflex and rhythm must be built into their muscles for them to do synchronized swimming. Practice makes perfect, and I guess there's nothing like knowing you'll be eaten that gets you going.
Been really busy, coding in Visual Basic for Applications (the MS Office version of VB), but what I'm supposed to do is quite involved, so the plan now is to just copy. No more macros, just worksheet functions, a working template of which has already been developed by other departments. So I just need to fiddle and faddle a bit with it to modify it for our needs.
Boston Public, a show about a public school, is so touching. Stuff about students, teaching, that kind of thing, school being understaffed, students eager to learn but shortchanged by the system that wants to see "results", young men and women challenging themselves to do more than others think possible...
There was this suggestion in the show to make all schools private, funded by skimming 1% of all future salary of all alumni of the school. A social security type "tax". Definitely sounds like a good idea because if it's left to the government they'd sooner create another nuclear bomb than set aside more funds for education.
So, lots of people are actually working in MINDEF. Daniel Huei, Adrian Foo, and still more others I don't know the names of (but I recognize their faces lah). I should probably go sleep soon; need to get a lot done tomorrow with Excel... hopefully it's not too much work, and it shouldn't be, since I can mostly copy and paste spreadsheets.
runaway train
heard this song on Class 95. love it. (by Soul Asylum)
Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning
So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
I promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep
It seems no one can help me now,
I'm in too deep; there's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded
I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train
And everything seems cut and dried,
Day and night, earth and sky,
Somehow I just don't believe it
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughing at the rain
A little out of touch, a little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Runaway train, never coming back
Runaway train, tearing up the track
Runaway train, burning in my veins
I run away but it always seems the same
Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning
So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
I promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep
It seems no one can help me now,
I'm in too deep; there's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded
I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train
And everything seems cut and dried,
Day and night, earth and sky,
Somehow I just don't believe it
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughing at the rain
A little out of touch, a little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Runaway train, never coming back
Runaway train, tearing up the track
Runaway train, burning in my veins
I run away but it always seems the same
Thursday, October 07, 2004
disarray
My parents note that there are a lot of cockroaches in the house. They described how one time I think the drain got clogged and some guy came to open the tiny drain cover and there were thousands of cockroaches in there.
I was trying to figure out how to make a function return an array, and after a quick search on the internet just now I found my answer. Basically, just define the function as a variant, and then variant can store array. I had used a clumsy workaround of defining a module-level (dynamic) array and letting the function "output" using it.
I was trying to figure out how to make a function return an array, and after a quick search on the internet just now I found my answer. Basically, just define the function as a variant, and then variant can store array. I had used a clumsy workaround of defining a module-level (dynamic) array and letting the function "output" using it.
Monday, October 04, 2004
the good and the bad
Watched Friends on TV, really hilarious. The episode where there's this oldish male stripper and Joey's a celebrity on The Pyramid Game and there's this high school reunion or something for the rest of them.
The Swan is a terrible show. It's about putting women through ridiculous things like plastic surgery and diets and I don't want to know what else, so that they have a chance to be models. It's ugly and disgusting, and so, so wrong.
There was an ad on TV, by the Health Promotion Board and the Institute of Mental Health, about depression. It's good stuff. It gives an overview of what depression is like, that it might be triggered by stress, possibly from losing a job or perhaps relationship difficulties. It also says that depression can be cured through counselling and medication, that it's a treatable condition.
Also, the other day the guys at lunch also talked about ninja turtles, that someone bought a set for another colleague's kids, but it was this angel/mortal thing so he was tricked and actually the person he was supposed to give the ninja turtles to didn't have kids, so that was awkward.
So anyway at work I'm having fun modifying and writing these macros for Excel, but I have this feeling that Microsoft Access might be better suited for the tasks at hand. But if it works, why change, right? It would probably be simpler for me to just stick to Excel, because afterall the basic macros have already been written and tested.
At Tan Tock Seng Hospital, there's what is known as private rate versus subsidised rates. The way these work is that you get private rate if you self-refer, and you usually get an appointment to see the doctor much earlier. If you go see polyclinic doctor and then get a referral to see a specialist at the hospital, you'll get the subsidised rate (no matter how filthy rich you are), just that you might have to wait something like 3 or 4 months before your appointment.
The thing is that I got an earlier appointment when I came back to Singapore (if I had waited, I would probably still be waiting to go back to CMPB now...), which was private rate, and now it seems there's no way to switch to the subsidised rate. Well, there is a way, but for that way they assess your assets. So even though I earn peanuts as an NSF, they consider my parents' income and so I'm ineligible for the subsidised rates. So basically I have to move out and start my own family before they stop considering my parents' income in the calculation.
The other way is for the doctor to discharge me and for me to see him again later after getting a referral from the polyclinic. The referral I already had from the polyclinic is null and void because I was already seeing the specialist at the private rate. The moral of the story is that one move could cost your whole life.
Is every cell in my body that has my DNA considered a human being?
The Swan is a terrible show. It's about putting women through ridiculous things like plastic surgery and diets and I don't want to know what else, so that they have a chance to be models. It's ugly and disgusting, and so, so wrong.
There was an ad on TV, by the Health Promotion Board and the Institute of Mental Health, about depression. It's good stuff. It gives an overview of what depression is like, that it might be triggered by stress, possibly from losing a job or perhaps relationship difficulties. It also says that depression can be cured through counselling and medication, that it's a treatable condition.
Also, the other day the guys at lunch also talked about ninja turtles, that someone bought a set for another colleague's kids, but it was this angel/mortal thing so he was tricked and actually the person he was supposed to give the ninja turtles to didn't have kids, so that was awkward.
So anyway at work I'm having fun modifying and writing these macros for Excel, but I have this feeling that Microsoft Access might be better suited for the tasks at hand. But if it works, why change, right? It would probably be simpler for me to just stick to Excel, because afterall the basic macros have already been written and tested.
At Tan Tock Seng Hospital, there's what is known as private rate versus subsidised rates. The way these work is that you get private rate if you self-refer, and you usually get an appointment to see the doctor much earlier. If you go see polyclinic doctor and then get a referral to see a specialist at the hospital, you'll get the subsidised rate (no matter how filthy rich you are), just that you might have to wait something like 3 or 4 months before your appointment.
The thing is that I got an earlier appointment when I came back to Singapore (if I had waited, I would probably still be waiting to go back to CMPB now...), which was private rate, and now it seems there's no way to switch to the subsidised rate. Well, there is a way, but for that way they assess your assets. So even though I earn peanuts as an NSF, they consider my parents' income and so I'm ineligible for the subsidised rates. So basically I have to move out and start my own family before they stop considering my parents' income in the calculation.
The other way is for the doctor to discharge me and for me to see him again later after getting a referral from the polyclinic. The referral I already had from the polyclinic is null and void because I was already seeing the specialist at the private rate. The moral of the story is that one move could cost your whole life.
Is every cell in my body that has my DNA considered a human being?
Sunday, October 03, 2004
is anybody out there?
Because MINDEF is at Bukit Batok, I've taken the North Line of the MRT recently, meaning go from Yio Chu Kang to Khatib and Yishun, etc. On the way back one day, I had an aerial view of the Nuovo condominiums near Yio Chu Kang MRT, and they've got a whole lot of water bodies! Pools here there and everywhere...
I've installed the Flash plugin for my Mozilla browser on Debian. Quite a simple procedure. Haven't installed audio plugin yet, though. One thing I want to figure out soon is how to minimize all open windows. No time this weekend to do kernel building...
I think my maid is going back to Phillipines for a holiday soon, but the thing is that my mom bought the ticket for a date that my maid told her, and now my maid wants to change the date but apparently Phillipines Airlines doesn't allow one to change dates, so have to buy a totally new ticket if really want to fly on another day.
Do you look at the needle go into your arm when you get an injection? Would you look at the needle if you were going to get a lethal injection?
Anyway, I didn't go with Aaron to the club today, was too tired, slept the whole day practically. Wonder if he still went with Say Yang, or perhaps even with Pei Ling.
I've installed the Flash plugin for my Mozilla browser on Debian. Quite a simple procedure. Haven't installed audio plugin yet, though. One thing I want to figure out soon is how to minimize all open windows. No time this weekend to do kernel building...
I think my maid is going back to Phillipines for a holiday soon, but the thing is that my mom bought the ticket for a date that my maid told her, and now my maid wants to change the date but apparently Phillipines Airlines doesn't allow one to change dates, so have to buy a totally new ticket if really want to fly on another day.
Do you look at the needle go into your arm when you get an injection? Would you look at the needle if you were going to get a lethal injection?
Anyway, I didn't go with Aaron to the club today, was too tired, slept the whole day practically. Wonder if he still went with Say Yang, or perhaps even with Pei Ling.
luck has nothing to do with it
A few days ago, I failed again to kill the cockroach. Had a good chance, but blew it. Threw the slipper at it but it was at where the floor meets the wall at an edge, so the slipper landed at roughly 45 degrees to both the floor and wall so the cockroach was unharmed, and without ado scurried beneath the stove.
Forgot to mention that the branch went bowling yesterday, as part of "work". Was really lucky, because I got a 140. Got a 1 on the first throw after at least 4 years, and got a 0 on the next (the ball went to the exact same spot where the pin I knocked down was) for a grand total of 1 for the first frame. My boss got 141. Broke my thumbnail pretty bad though, luckily they had nail clippers at the counter.
Met Jasper just now, and we watched a show, and he says this is his all-time favorite. It's getting somewhat suspicious that every show he watches gets better and better. It was a Korean show with English subtitles, The Cool Guy, some soppy love story cum tragedy and comedy, but not a tragicomedy. I realize a good formula for an emotional twist to a movie is for there to be 3 friends or brothers, and for some traumatic event to happen to one of them, that person might even die and then the other 2 friends drift away, maybe one of them angry at the other for the death.
Tonight is poker night at my house, my dad's friends are over. I'm sleepy and tired, but it's good.
In a flash of coincidence, on Thursday I think, over lunch the guys at work were talking about executions, and what would be the best way to be killed, other than lethal injection, because that's probably the best. Someone said hanging, I think, which might really not be so bad. Actually, decapitation might be quite painless, but I think the real problem with that is the thought that one's body is no longer whole, that the head is separated from the body. And then you think gruesome thoughts of blood and someone holding up your head by the hair. An intact corpse doesn't elicit the same gut reaction.
Maybe we should listen to our head, not our guts. But I guess in this case the head doesn't want to go either. They added a twist in the knife, so the speak, replacing the firing squad with an amateur shooter standing far away so he probably won't hit a clean shot, etc.
Food for thought, eh? Going with Aaron to the club tomorrow. Jasper's not going, not sure if Say Yang will be there. I need to get enough sleep this weekend. But, as put eloquently in this review of Debian,
I'm looking forward to a new whole week of coding.
Forgot to mention that the branch went bowling yesterday, as part of "work". Was really lucky, because I got a 140. Got a 1 on the first throw after at least 4 years, and got a 0 on the next (the ball went to the exact same spot where the pin I knocked down was) for a grand total of 1 for the first frame. My boss got 141. Broke my thumbnail pretty bad though, luckily they had nail clippers at the counter.
Met Jasper just now, and we watched a show, and he says this is his all-time favorite. It's getting somewhat suspicious that every show he watches gets better and better. It was a Korean show with English subtitles, The Cool Guy, some soppy love story cum tragedy and comedy, but not a tragicomedy. I realize a good formula for an emotional twist to a movie is for there to be 3 friends or brothers, and for some traumatic event to happen to one of them, that person might even die and then the other 2 friends drift away, maybe one of them angry at the other for the death.
Tonight is poker night at my house, my dad's friends are over. I'm sleepy and tired, but it's good.
In a flash of coincidence, on Thursday I think, over lunch the guys at work were talking about executions, and what would be the best way to be killed, other than lethal injection, because that's probably the best. Someone said hanging, I think, which might really not be so bad. Actually, decapitation might be quite painless, but I think the real problem with that is the thought that one's body is no longer whole, that the head is separated from the body. And then you think gruesome thoughts of blood and someone holding up your head by the hair. An intact corpse doesn't elicit the same gut reaction.
Maybe we should listen to our head, not our guts. But I guess in this case the head doesn't want to go either. They added a twist in the knife, so the speak, replacing the firing squad with an amateur shooter standing far away so he probably won't hit a clean shot, etc.
Food for thought, eh? Going with Aaron to the club tomorrow. Jasper's not going, not sure if Say Yang will be there. I need to get enough sleep this weekend. But, as put eloquently in this review of Debian,
As any experienced hacker will tell you, sleep is no substitute for caffeine.
I'm looking forward to a new whole week of coding.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Beauty != Health
(note: != means not equals; in Visual Basic, <> means not equals.)
Check this out:
Parking Spots
http://dubster.com/cars/
In response to Gambitch's comment about my previous post, I have to say he's right, that the computer can't be connected to the internet. The only internet-enabled computers are laptops, which run on wireless.
Furthermore, the computer I'm working on is riddled with viruses, so it probably won't even be put on the intranet unless that is dealt with. I tried resizing the partition non-destructively like I did with this computer at home, but somehow it failed, so I gave up.
But I'm a happy man. The computer is hooked up to two LCD flatscreens, so that's a lot of desktop real estate for me to roll about in. My job is quite a programmer's wet dream, because I get to code all day long. I get to code all day long at home if I want, but firstly I don't get paid for that (even though my NS allowance is tiny, but it's still something), and secondly I don't fulfill my NS liability.
I've picked up Visual Basic for Microsoft Excel from scratch. Good thing the main program has already been coded (this was done in 1999/2000), and I think my job is to modify the code to add critical new features. Along the way I've identified various areas where I can improve useability and robustness.
There's nothing like having a job to make me work. No deadlines have been set for me yet, but definitely soon. Got a project to do this weekend also. My aunty, who's a school principal, asked me to do some writeup on the situation of Special Schools in Singapore. This issue has also recently come up in the news, along with the new Prime Minister, who talked about making Singapore more inclusive and "caring".
Weekend Today Newspaper has a front-page story on the "Rising Prices and the Defiant Young Smoker", basically describing the trend where a lot of youngsters are picking up the habit, and that increased taxes doesn't really do much. It just means they cut back on other stuff, like perhaps lunch, and they move towards cheaper brands.
But the thing that bugs me is that the Health Promotion Board is reportedly having such campaigns (quoted from Today Newspaper, Oct 2-3 2004, page 3):
This, even though according to the article, "Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in Parliament recently that a study had indicated that young women smoke because of 'peer pressure, to relief stress, control their weight and improve their social image'".
Health is health, and I'm afraid society's idea of beauty for women is so warped that the intersection with health is tenuous. "Beauty" businesses invariably send out the signal to women that they are too fat, and that they have fat in all the "wrong places". And they have advertisements showing actresses endorsing how their program made them slim again and fit for TV after having their baby.
The stress relieving effect of nicotine, coupled with the weight-loss effects of smoking, is a powerful formula attracting women to smoking. Everywhere you go, on billboards, in newspapers, you see advertisements and TV shows with women having perfectly flat tummies, and I can certainly imagine that women want to be like these women, because men like these women, and they diet, and maybe their friends tell them they can do more than diet, they can smoke, that will help them lose weight too.
I think health, both physical and mental, is the main force opposing the dieting and smoking trends. I don't think beauty businesses serve any social purposes at all. They sacrifice the well-being of many women to enrich their pockets. Beauty businesses are only good at pointing out that everyone is fat, or perhaps not fat, just fat in the wrong areas, focussing everyone on appearances and stressing how important it is that you look good, focussing on the superficial and the shallow. The mainstream fashion industry is no better, every so often parading skinny models down the catwalk in ridiculous and ridiculously expensive cloth.
Honestly, it's so terribly out of date. Content matters so much more than appearances. Websites with Flash and not much else suck. Plain html with great content are great sites. Clothing should be evolving into practicality: all pants should have pockets, as a start, and then maybe some lightweight electronics can be integrated, and I expect the day is near when our environment becomes so harsh that clothing has to be protective against UV rays, pollution, and cosmic and surface radiation.
Check this out:
Parking Spots
http://dubster.com/cars/
In response to Gambitch's comment about my previous post, I have to say he's right, that the computer can't be connected to the internet. The only internet-enabled computers are laptops, which run on wireless.
Furthermore, the computer I'm working on is riddled with viruses, so it probably won't even be put on the intranet unless that is dealt with. I tried resizing the partition non-destructively like I did with this computer at home, but somehow it failed, so I gave up.
But I'm a happy man. The computer is hooked up to two LCD flatscreens, so that's a lot of desktop real estate for me to roll about in. My job is quite a programmer's wet dream, because I get to code all day long. I get to code all day long at home if I want, but firstly I don't get paid for that (even though my NS allowance is tiny, but it's still something), and secondly I don't fulfill my NS liability.
I've picked up Visual Basic for Microsoft Excel from scratch. Good thing the main program has already been coded (this was done in 1999/2000), and I think my job is to modify the code to add critical new features. Along the way I've identified various areas where I can improve useability and robustness.
There's nothing like having a job to make me work. No deadlines have been set for me yet, but definitely soon. Got a project to do this weekend also. My aunty, who's a school principal, asked me to do some writeup on the situation of Special Schools in Singapore. This issue has also recently come up in the news, along with the new Prime Minister, who talked about making Singapore more inclusive and "caring".
Weekend Today Newspaper has a front-page story on the "Rising Prices and the Defiant Young Smoker", basically describing the trend where a lot of youngsters are picking up the habit, and that increased taxes doesn't really do much. It just means they cut back on other stuff, like perhaps lunch, and they move towards cheaper brands.
But the thing that bugs me is that the Health Promotion Board is reportedly having such campaigns (quoted from Today Newspaper, Oct 2-3 2004, page 3):
- Smoking robs women of their looks, their health and their baby - press advertisements will contain this message
- Beauty, fashion and wellness businesses - the HPB will join forces with them to increase its outreach
This, even though according to the article, "Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in Parliament recently that a study had indicated that young women smoke because of 'peer pressure, to relief stress, control their weight and improve their social image'".
Health is health, and I'm afraid society's idea of beauty for women is so warped that the intersection with health is tenuous. "Beauty" businesses invariably send out the signal to women that they are too fat, and that they have fat in all the "wrong places". And they have advertisements showing actresses endorsing how their program made them slim again and fit for TV after having their baby.
The stress relieving effect of nicotine, coupled with the weight-loss effects of smoking, is a powerful formula attracting women to smoking. Everywhere you go, on billboards, in newspapers, you see advertisements and TV shows with women having perfectly flat tummies, and I can certainly imagine that women want to be like these women, because men like these women, and they diet, and maybe their friends tell them they can do more than diet, they can smoke, that will help them lose weight too.
I think health, both physical and mental, is the main force opposing the dieting and smoking trends. I don't think beauty businesses serve any social purposes at all. They sacrifice the well-being of many women to enrich their pockets. Beauty businesses are only good at pointing out that everyone is fat, or perhaps not fat, just fat in the wrong areas, focussing everyone on appearances and stressing how important it is that you look good, focussing on the superficial and the shallow. The mainstream fashion industry is no better, every so often parading skinny models down the catwalk in ridiculous and ridiculously expensive cloth.
Honestly, it's so terribly out of date. Content matters so much more than appearances. Websites with Flash and not much else suck. Plain html with great content are great sites. Clothing should be evolving into practicality: all pants should have pockets, as a start, and then maybe some lightweight electronics can be integrated, and I expect the day is near when our environment becomes so harsh that clothing has to be protective against UV rays, pollution, and cosmic and surface radiation.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
quickie
This is just a short post to let everyone know that I survived the first day of work at MINDEF OPC, and tomorrow I'm going to ask the boss if my computer can be connected to the internet. I might eventually even want to install another OS on it, but that can and probably should wait.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Last Night of Freedom, though I'll still have Freedom, lucky me
A nice pleasant night. Slightly misty, the moon full and creating its own halo. It was cool and carefree, cycling in from the bus stop, with "Everything I do" playing on Class 95 FM. And after that, "Just Another Sad Love Song", as I stepped into my house. We waited forever for 86 to come, though. We almost wanted to take taxi.
I'm rather tired; went to the library today to return my books and got 4 new books on linux. Got 2 books from the "For Dummies" series, my first such books. One on Linux and one on Debian specifically. There was this book in the library: A 12 step Linux Cure for your Microsoft Addiction.
Met Jasper after that, and we had dinner. We went to many new places today, just anyhow walk, and we got to this KTV building and went toilet, then walked down the stairs, which were those enclosed stairs kind of setup, which provided excellent acoustics for his "Maria" rendition. Then this bank had this advertisement showing a traffic signal for pedestrians, the green man flashing on top and below. Jasper remarked that it's actually quite dangerous, and I agree, because the flashing green men are facing the street, and there isn't actually a pedestrian crossing there.
At Borders, they had lots of cool stuff, board games with Lord of the Rings flavor, rather pretty water bottles, insectoid wind-up creatures with long legs, and this "Book of Answers" where you're supposed to think of a question and concentrate on it and then close your eyes and flip to a page and the answer is there. Jasper thought it was quite accurate. You know how these things work anyway.
Jasper and I were discussing the various methods of execution. In order of preference, I think the list for him is something like
- Limbs being pulled apart by 4 horses
- Hanging
- Guillotine
- Lethal injection
- Bullet(s)
and his all time favorite is the Electric Chair.
Though I think death from Electric Chair takes some time, and might be rather painful. I'm not quite sure where he would put Falling off a Tall Building, but it should be somewhere towards the top of the list. I'm also not sure if the Lethal injection rank is accurate.
By the way, Debian comes from Debra and Ian, so next time can have something called Darann, which is how Jasper pronounces my name anyway. I should go sleep now, and I shall.
I'm rather tired; went to the library today to return my books and got 4 new books on linux. Got 2 books from the "For Dummies" series, my first such books. One on Linux and one on Debian specifically. There was this book in the library: A 12 step Linux Cure for your Microsoft Addiction.
Met Jasper after that, and we had dinner. We went to many new places today, just anyhow walk, and we got to this KTV building and went toilet, then walked down the stairs, which were those enclosed stairs kind of setup, which provided excellent acoustics for his "Maria" rendition. Then this bank had this advertisement showing a traffic signal for pedestrians, the green man flashing on top and below. Jasper remarked that it's actually quite dangerous, and I agree, because the flashing green men are facing the street, and there isn't actually a pedestrian crossing there.
At Borders, they had lots of cool stuff, board games with Lord of the Rings flavor, rather pretty water bottles, insectoid wind-up creatures with long legs, and this "Book of Answers" where you're supposed to think of a question and concentrate on it and then close your eyes and flip to a page and the answer is there. Jasper thought it was quite accurate. You know how these things work anyway.
Jasper and I were discussing the various methods of execution. In order of preference, I think the list for him is something like
- Limbs being pulled apart by 4 horses
- Hanging
- Guillotine
- Lethal injection
- Bullet(s)
and his all time favorite is the Electric Chair.
Though I think death from Electric Chair takes some time, and might be rather painful. I'm not quite sure where he would put Falling off a Tall Building, but it should be somewhere towards the top of the list. I'm also not sure if the Lethal injection rank is accurate.
By the way, Debian comes from Debra and Ian, so next time can have something called Darann, which is how Jasper pronounces my name anyway. I should go sleep now, and I shall.
mozilla
Managed to uninstall the mozilla 1.0.0 suite that came with Debian Woody. Used dpkg to do the uninstall. Then reinstalled the latest version, mozilla 1.7.3, and things look great. This is my first blog post from linux. At least I've had one success with installing a binary tarball. I have to return my library books today, and it's very unlikely that I'll be able to rebuild the kernel with the last version.
Going to library now and meeting Jasper for dinner later.
Going to library now and meeting Jasper for dinner later.
idiot
oh God, I feel like killing myself. I left my camera in front of the CD-burner and I was burning a CD to backup my stuff, and went upstairs to clean up my room, and the CD-burner automatically ejected the disc after it was done, and I heard a noise, and came down and found my camera on the floor. It kinda still works, but this is the second time I've dropped it since I've got it. This time, though, the button controlling the shutter is damaged. The distance between auto-focus and taking a picture has all but vanished. So after I push the button down halfway to auto-focus, when I push a little harder, there isn't that satisfying click. I just push it a little harder without getting tactile feedback. I hate myself.
failure
I failed to kill a cockroach. Had a good chance tonight, but I missed on the first attempt with a slipper, and it scurried about and went under the stove.
I start work on Wednesday. Simon doesn't know about the transport, so I'll go there myself and find out more when I'm there. It'll be a big bummer if I have to go there myself everyday...
Slept the entire day yesterday; woke up at about 6pm. Just couldn't get myself out of bed, though I did get out of bed and eat something for brunch. I guess I'll stay up all night tonight. Many things to do. Really need to start clearing the floor of my room, because it's been 2 months and I still haven't completed the job.
Wonder if I'll be able to rebuild the linux kernel. Anyway, on Friday, went to Settler's cafe with Jasper, Aaron and his girlfriend. Played this "St. Petersburg" game. We were charged $24, which was their definition of "free". Not really worth getting into. Later, watched "Saved" with Jasper, who thinks "Mary" looks like Clarissa, and thinks the show is the best show he's watched this year. The ex-best was Dodgeball, but that's the funniest movie of all time for him.
Didn't do much on Saturday, to my memory. Worked on linux, mostly. Sunday we went to Raffles Town Club to celebrate my granny's birthday. Went to eat at The Chinese Restaurant (that's the name of the restaurant). Was at the club in the morning as usual, except this time Say Yang didn't come, and my sister also went with her friends, and Aaron's brother was also there. And I saw someone in a Princeton t-shirt.
Performed the magic trick that I showed Jasper for my mom, and also for my littlest cousin and my sister. Not too bad. No one was really amazed though. I need to work on it more.
It's gonna be a long night.
I start work on Wednesday. Simon doesn't know about the transport, so I'll go there myself and find out more when I'm there. It'll be a big bummer if I have to go there myself everyday...
Slept the entire day yesterday; woke up at about 6pm. Just couldn't get myself out of bed, though I did get out of bed and eat something for brunch. I guess I'll stay up all night tonight. Many things to do. Really need to start clearing the floor of my room, because it's been 2 months and I still haven't completed the job.
Wonder if I'll be able to rebuild the linux kernel. Anyway, on Friday, went to Settler's cafe with Jasper, Aaron and his girlfriend. Played this "St. Petersburg" game. We were charged $24, which was their definition of "free". Not really worth getting into. Later, watched "Saved" with Jasper, who thinks "Mary" looks like Clarissa, and thinks the show is the best show he's watched this year. The ex-best was Dodgeball, but that's the funniest movie of all time for him.
Didn't do much on Saturday, to my memory. Worked on linux, mostly. Sunday we went to Raffles Town Club to celebrate my granny's birthday. Went to eat at The Chinese Restaurant (that's the name of the restaurant). Was at the club in the morning as usual, except this time Say Yang didn't come, and my sister also went with her friends, and Aaron's brother was also there. And I saw someone in a Princeton t-shirt.
Performed the magic trick that I showed Jasper for my mom, and also for my littlest cousin and my sister. Not too bad. No one was really amazed though. I need to work on it more.
It's gonna be a long night.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Spread Firefox
[ http://www.spreadfirefox.com/ ]
I just installed Firefox 0.10 Preview Release, and it's a snap. It looks great. Don't need to uninstall older versions of Firefox, for me at least, the upgrade from 0.9.1 to 0.10 was hassle-free. Everything was preserved, and it was able to automatically locate updated extensions.
I just installed Firefox 0.10 Preview Release, and it's a snap. It looks great. Don't need to uninstall older versions of Firefox, for me at least, the upgrade from 0.9.1 to 0.10 was hassle-free. Everything was preserved, and it was able to automatically locate updated extensions.
Friday, September 24, 2004
plugs for Firefox
These are sites advocating for Mozilla Firefox:
Firefox - Switch
[ http://switch2firefox.com/ ]
Browse Happy — Online. Worry-free.
[ http://browsehappy.com/ ]
And I recently activated my singnet webspace, so
[ http://web.singnet.com.sg/~darlet/ ]
now belongs to me. There's nothing much there, and there isn't much I can put there either (I think I'm limited to 2MB), but maybe I'll put stuff there some other time.
It's now confirmed, I am re-enlisted on the 29th. That's next Wednesday. It's raining now, which is bad since I'm supposed to go out soon...
Firefox - Switch
[ http://switch2firefox.com/ ]
Browse Happy — Online. Worry-free.
[ http://browsehappy.com/ ]
And I recently activated my singnet webspace, so
[ http://web.singnet.com.sg/~darlet/ ]
now belongs to me. There's nothing much there, and there isn't much I can put there either (I think I'm limited to 2MB), but maybe I'll put stuff there some other time.
It's now confirmed, I am re-enlisted on the 29th. That's next Wednesday. It's raining now, which is bad since I'm supposed to go out soon...
Thursday, September 23, 2004
xtreme sports
There's this extreme sports competition in Singapore next month, and it sounds like lots of fun, but then I read more and it spans like 50km... so I guess I might not be in shape for it, but I would certainly dig the fun stuff like, you know, fun stuff to do with ropes and stuff, but not the running and swimming and running and the like...
James said his plan to sample famous Singaporean food before flying off backfired, because normally he wouldn't go out of his way to seek out stuff like the best char kway teow or whatever, and so after eating the stuff he now craves it and it so happens he's flown off already.
Minds and conventions endow symbols with meaning. Helped my sis with stats, tried to explain how the summation notation is just notation. That's a big part of mathematics, the shorthand, the notation, the being able to write out a proof compactly, to fit it on one page so the mind can encapsulate and see tons of ideas all at once.
The DVD has arrived, amazingly fast. I guess I was just expecting it to take longer. Have yet to watch it, but will soon. Meeting Aaron (at 3pm) and not sure who else, maybe Say Yang, maybe his girlfriend also. Going to this Settler's Cafe I think it's called, where you eat and can play all sorts of board games for free on weekdays (before 6 or 7 on Fridays, I think). Somehow I seem to have heard about it before, I think someone else must have mentioned it before.
Went to skin specialist today, got a prescription for the drug I've been taking. Another 3 week supply. He also referred me to a Hematologist, because there's some disease which might explain my hives and presumably I don't want to have this disease, and there's a chance I might have the disease, though he thinks probably not. But my hemoglobin count is high and so is my hematocrit.
James said his plan to sample famous Singaporean food before flying off backfired, because normally he wouldn't go out of his way to seek out stuff like the best char kway teow or whatever, and so after eating the stuff he now craves it and it so happens he's flown off already.
Minds and conventions endow symbols with meaning. Helped my sis with stats, tried to explain how the summation notation is just notation. That's a big part of mathematics, the shorthand, the notation, the being able to write out a proof compactly, to fit it on one page so the mind can encapsulate and see tons of ideas all at once.
The DVD has arrived, amazingly fast. I guess I was just expecting it to take longer. Have yet to watch it, but will soon. Meeting Aaron (at 3pm) and not sure who else, maybe Say Yang, maybe his girlfriend also. Going to this Settler's Cafe I think it's called, where you eat and can play all sorts of board games for free on weekdays (before 6 or 7 on Fridays, I think). Somehow I seem to have heard about it before, I think someone else must have mentioned it before.
Went to skin specialist today, got a prescription for the drug I've been taking. Another 3 week supply. He also referred me to a Hematologist, because there's some disease which might explain my hives and presumably I don't want to have this disease, and there's a chance I might have the disease, though he thinks probably not. But my hemoglobin count is high and so is my hematocrit.
this song rocks
Breaking The Habit
- Linkin Park
Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
to show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
- Linkin Park
Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
to show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
a promise
the positron promised the electron
that they would annihilate into light
but they smacked painfully
and the electron cried
the electron cry
that they would annihilate into light
but they smacked painfully
and the electron cried
the electron cry
crashes
For some reason, Firefox crashed last night and I had to reboot. I think it's Windows's fault. I have a lot of news, but have been too busy and tired the past days and nights to write about it here. I should be sleeping now, but though I felt tired while coming home, I'm not that tired now, after packing away my army stuff (uniforms, fullpack, SBO and helmet crammed into duffel bag) and taking a shower.
The toilet paper packed into a ziplock for putting into the fullpack has turned brown in several areas. Promptly threw that away. Found two lighters, one of which doesn't seem to work (though I was never very good at using a lighter, probably because I'm too scared the flame licks my thumb), found two bars of soap (both Fa soap, and I think originally both were green, but one of them is now blue), and other stuff that I think I'll skip out mentioning here.
Or maybe not. There was an SOP box (tuperware thingey) with panadol and sundry chinese medicines, and the absence of one of the originally four panadol tablets made me think back to the time when I took it. I think I probably took it, but the details elude me. All I can recall is vaguely having felt sick while on field camp or something, but any dodobird can manufacture this memory.
Watched the final leg of The Amazing Race with my dad just now. Chip and Kim, the "married parents", won, which was so great. Chip is really the coolest guy on the show, his comments are hilarious and he's such a nice guy. It was inspirational seeing him pull himself up that impossibly high rock face. I could probably do it, but he's like over 40 years old and not exactly in perfect shape. It was amazing. Also amazing how one of the "bowling moms" managed to do it too. But I must say I was quite impressed by Colin's maze strategy, which was highly effective. The way he thought of it immediately leads me to think that he's done mazes before. Basically he said just keep turning left and use the tall structures visible above the maze walls as reference.
Also found many batteries in my army stuff. About 8 C-size batteries. The army flashlight doesn't seem to be working anymore. Found sticks of camo and tubes of insect repellent. Made me think of how one time Jon applied liquid camo instead of insect repellent (it was dark), and was wondering why the insects still kept biting him, then realized it after a while and was looking garang.
Oh, and the reason why I'm packing up all my army stuff is because I won't need it (unless maybe when a war breaks out), since I've been offered a job at MINDEF HQ. The interview went well, it was very informal, and one of their first questions was why I didn't shave (and they made a point of mentioning shaving several times in the course of my pre-orientation). And also whether I ran there, because my shirt was drenched (it was hot and it's a terribly long walk in...). But they were nice, and at first I wasn't too excited about what they wanted to hire me for, but then when they explained it a bit more I got quite interested. Basically it's computer stuff, so the next year and 10 months might make a hacker of me yet!
I'm pretty excited about starting work. The dress code is smart casual, I think it's called, basically office wear, so shirt and pants and "proper" shoes. My dad gave me two pairs of pants (we're the same size, which is great) and I'm gonna use his shoes too, because the shoes I have are somewhat too colorful. I have a pair of dress shoes but those are too tight on my toes. By the way, the Zoe Tay advertisement where she decides not to take the lift and take the stairs instead has a good message on exercise, but she really shouldn't be wearing high heels...
One can e-file to get married and then need to get documents verified (can be on same day, but need to go to ROM to get it verified), and then need to wait 21 days to solemnize, but no more than 3 months. And on this page, there is a gentle warning not to go for a customary marriage before a civil marriage, because if you do that then you will be sent to jail AND fined. You have been warned.
James is probably flying soon if he hasn't flown already. Due to the recent deaths by MRT hitting people who jumped/fell onto the track, they considered building barriers to prevent people from going onto tracks. I thought sure cannot build such thing one, but I wasn't thinking lor. The underground MRT stations have such a barrier. But now come to think of it, I don't know why the underground MRT stations have such a barrier. Why weren't they built like the overground ones? In New York they don't have such thing, that's why in movies they can jump onto the tracks and do exciting made-for-movie actions.
I'm glad they decided not to build the barriers, since the estimate cost is something like 200 million dollars. Getting hit by MRT train doesn't seem to me a particularly good way to die. In fact I'm surprised how effective it has been, considering that near the station the train is already slowing down. I guess you have to jump at the point when the train just enters the station, where the train is fastest. If the barriers are built the people who want to kill themselves will probably just find another way. I don't think the ubiquity of MRT stations is that big a factor in prompting suicidal ideation.
Bought duct tape today, since there's no more in the house. There are at least two adult cockroaches in the kitchen. Saw them both a few nights ago, and didn't manage to kill either of them for want of practice. Plus, they went to hide. Cowards. Saw one of them just now, but it scurried under the plastic shelf of pots and pans.
Going to the skin center today. The medication for my hives has worked wonderfully; just wonder if the hives will reappear once I go off the medicine. Some days ago, Jasper proved for me that the circle inscribed in a right angled triangle with integral sides has an integral radius. Quite amazing.
There's this bendable bar at the Ang Mo Kio Sportslink, which is fucking stiff! I can't bend it!! I have one at home but that's much easier. This one is almost impossible to bend. It'll be quite impressive if you can bend it.
Jasper notes that when he stops looking for elements, they start appearing. It's magic, the art of misdirection, the gift of serendipity.
I'm glad Say Yang asked me whether I listen to the radio and what station I listened to (since I said yes). I told him Perfect 10 and he was surprised and suggested 95.0 FM. Thank you, Say Yang, because Class 95 FM is infinitely (almost) better than the Perfect 10. As their tagline goes, they've got the best mix in music, for one. Perfect 10 always plays the same old, new tunes that are suddenly popular and in fashion. Some songs I like and don't mind hearing again, but some songs just keep playing and playing and I don't know what's so nice about them. Class 95 throws in classics now and then, so it's always good.
And the Perfect 10 is also very childish, because the things the DJs say are just stupid banter like how you imagine a stereotypical supermodel would speak. Gushing over this and that where this and that are idiotic. Listening to Class 95 that day, they were discussing the yellow ribbon project, which is a campaign to encourage employers to employ ex-convicts. One of the DJs made a comment that in the first place people get thrown in jail somewhat too easily.
I should talk more about my NS posting, which is Jasper's idea of a dream posting. I happen to agree. Monday to Thursday 7:30 to 5pm, Friday let off 1/2 an hour earlier, Saturday and Sundays free. No need to wear army uniform, civilian clothes so don't even need to salute and all that nonsense. I'm even looking forward to it, because I'm supposed to implement some computerized system, and to me it's not so much the problem I'm supposed to solve but how to solve this problem.
Windows XP being used, which sucks, but couldn't really expect otherwise. This project was actually supposed to have been completed earlier, but it got delayed because of the upgrade to XP. There's another PSC overseas scholar working in the group, my year one, and the group got about 7 of us. I was sorta tickled when I went to MINDEF HQ for my interview because Charles Leong, another PSC scholar, is Military Police (MP) and he was in the booth dealing with visitor passes and the like. Sounds like a rather uninteresting job, to say the least.
I think there are a few teaching scholars in the OPC (Officer Personnel Center) unit where I'll be working. I don't know how to call it lah, but the big office got quite a lot of people, but the subdivision where I'll be joining is just about 7 people. So dunno call unit or office or what lah. And I'll probably start work next Wednesday, the 29th of September 2004. I won't miss the NIE intake in late July because I can either clear leave or whatever, even if cannot also can defer again and then complete the remaining days/weeks afterwards, though probably don't need to like this.
Still haven't made my backups to CD-R. No time to play with linux...
I love the green tapioca cakes they sell 3 for $1. And there's a library in the shopping center next to Bukit Batok MRT, which is the MRT near MINDEF HQ. Aaron ordered Indian Rojak and dropped and egg and is very sad.
The toilet paper packed into a ziplock for putting into the fullpack has turned brown in several areas. Promptly threw that away. Found two lighters, one of which doesn't seem to work (though I was never very good at using a lighter, probably because I'm too scared the flame licks my thumb), found two bars of soap (both Fa soap, and I think originally both were green, but one of them is now blue), and other stuff that I think I'll skip out mentioning here.
Or maybe not. There was an SOP box (tuperware thingey) with panadol and sundry chinese medicines, and the absence of one of the originally four panadol tablets made me think back to the time when I took it. I think I probably took it, but the details elude me. All I can recall is vaguely having felt sick while on field camp or something, but any dodobird can manufacture this memory.
Watched the final leg of The Amazing Race with my dad just now. Chip and Kim, the "married parents", won, which was so great. Chip is really the coolest guy on the show, his comments are hilarious and he's such a nice guy. It was inspirational seeing him pull himself up that impossibly high rock face. I could probably do it, but he's like over 40 years old and not exactly in perfect shape. It was amazing. Also amazing how one of the "bowling moms" managed to do it too. But I must say I was quite impressed by Colin's maze strategy, which was highly effective. The way he thought of it immediately leads me to think that he's done mazes before. Basically he said just keep turning left and use the tall structures visible above the maze walls as reference.
Also found many batteries in my army stuff. About 8 C-size batteries. The army flashlight doesn't seem to be working anymore. Found sticks of camo and tubes of insect repellent. Made me think of how one time Jon applied liquid camo instead of insect repellent (it was dark), and was wondering why the insects still kept biting him, then realized it after a while and was looking garang.
Oh, and the reason why I'm packing up all my army stuff is because I won't need it (unless maybe when a war breaks out), since I've been offered a job at MINDEF HQ. The interview went well, it was very informal, and one of their first questions was why I didn't shave (and they made a point of mentioning shaving several times in the course of my pre-orientation). And also whether I ran there, because my shirt was drenched (it was hot and it's a terribly long walk in...). But they were nice, and at first I wasn't too excited about what they wanted to hire me for, but then when they explained it a bit more I got quite interested. Basically it's computer stuff, so the next year and 10 months might make a hacker of me yet!
I'm pretty excited about starting work. The dress code is smart casual, I think it's called, basically office wear, so shirt and pants and "proper" shoes. My dad gave me two pairs of pants (we're the same size, which is great) and I'm gonna use his shoes too, because the shoes I have are somewhat too colorful. I have a pair of dress shoes but those are too tight on my toes. By the way, the Zoe Tay advertisement where she decides not to take the lift and take the stairs instead has a good message on exercise, but she really shouldn't be wearing high heels...
One can e-file to get married and then need to get documents verified (can be on same day, but need to go to ROM to get it verified), and then need to wait 21 days to solemnize, but no more than 3 months. And on this page, there is a gentle warning not to go for a customary marriage before a civil marriage, because if you do that then you will be sent to jail AND fined. You have been warned.
James is probably flying soon if he hasn't flown already. Due to the recent deaths by MRT hitting people who jumped/fell onto the track, they considered building barriers to prevent people from going onto tracks. I thought sure cannot build such thing one, but I wasn't thinking lor. The underground MRT stations have such a barrier. But now come to think of it, I don't know why the underground MRT stations have such a barrier. Why weren't they built like the overground ones? In New York they don't have such thing, that's why in movies they can jump onto the tracks and do exciting made-for-movie actions.
I'm glad they decided not to build the barriers, since the estimate cost is something like 200 million dollars. Getting hit by MRT train doesn't seem to me a particularly good way to die. In fact I'm surprised how effective it has been, considering that near the station the train is already slowing down. I guess you have to jump at the point when the train just enters the station, where the train is fastest. If the barriers are built the people who want to kill themselves will probably just find another way. I don't think the ubiquity of MRT stations is that big a factor in prompting suicidal ideation.
Bought duct tape today, since there's no more in the house. There are at least two adult cockroaches in the kitchen. Saw them both a few nights ago, and didn't manage to kill either of them for want of practice. Plus, they went to hide. Cowards. Saw one of them just now, but it scurried under the plastic shelf of pots and pans.
Going to the skin center today. The medication for my hives has worked wonderfully; just wonder if the hives will reappear once I go off the medicine. Some days ago, Jasper proved for me that the circle inscribed in a right angled triangle with integral sides has an integral radius. Quite amazing.
There's this bendable bar at the Ang Mo Kio Sportslink, which is fucking stiff! I can't bend it!! I have one at home but that's much easier. This one is almost impossible to bend. It'll be quite impressive if you can bend it.
Jasper notes that when he stops looking for elements, they start appearing. It's magic, the art of misdirection, the gift of serendipity.
I'm glad Say Yang asked me whether I listen to the radio and what station I listened to (since I said yes). I told him Perfect 10 and he was surprised and suggested 95.0 FM. Thank you, Say Yang, because Class 95 FM is infinitely (almost) better than the Perfect 10. As their tagline goes, they've got the best mix in music, for one. Perfect 10 always plays the same old, new tunes that are suddenly popular and in fashion. Some songs I like and don't mind hearing again, but some songs just keep playing and playing and I don't know what's so nice about them. Class 95 throws in classics now and then, so it's always good.
And the Perfect 10 is also very childish, because the things the DJs say are just stupid banter like how you imagine a stereotypical supermodel would speak. Gushing over this and that where this and that are idiotic. Listening to Class 95 that day, they were discussing the yellow ribbon project, which is a campaign to encourage employers to employ ex-convicts. One of the DJs made a comment that in the first place people get thrown in jail somewhat too easily.
I should talk more about my NS posting, which is Jasper's idea of a dream posting. I happen to agree. Monday to Thursday 7:30 to 5pm, Friday let off 1/2 an hour earlier, Saturday and Sundays free. No need to wear army uniform, civilian clothes so don't even need to salute and all that nonsense. I'm even looking forward to it, because I'm supposed to implement some computerized system, and to me it's not so much the problem I'm supposed to solve but how to solve this problem.
Windows XP being used, which sucks, but couldn't really expect otherwise. This project was actually supposed to have been completed earlier, but it got delayed because of the upgrade to XP. There's another PSC overseas scholar working in the group, my year one, and the group got about 7 of us. I was sorta tickled when I went to MINDEF HQ for my interview because Charles Leong, another PSC scholar, is Military Police (MP) and he was in the booth dealing with visitor passes and the like. Sounds like a rather uninteresting job, to say the least.
I think there are a few teaching scholars in the OPC (Officer Personnel Center) unit where I'll be working. I don't know how to call it lah, but the big office got quite a lot of people, but the subdivision where I'll be joining is just about 7 people. So dunno call unit or office or what lah. And I'll probably start work next Wednesday, the 29th of September 2004. I won't miss the NIE intake in late July because I can either clear leave or whatever, even if cannot also can defer again and then complete the remaining days/weeks afterwards, though probably don't need to like this.
Still haven't made my backups to CD-R. No time to play with linux...
I love the green tapioca cakes they sell 3 for $1. And there's a library in the shopping center next to Bukit Batok MRT, which is the MRT near MINDEF HQ. Aaron ordered Indian Rojak and dropped and egg and is very sad.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
a nice quote
Just thought I should include this part from:
MS-Word is {Not} a document exchange format
[ http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html ]
which I referred to in my previous post.
Well said:
MS-Word is {Not} a document exchange format
[ http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html ]
which I referred to in my previous post.
Well said:
Over the past few years it has become fashionable in the US to drive some form of truck as a primary commuting/errands vehicle. There are many issues regarding that fashion, but for this analogy I would like to focus on two of them. When two vehicles collide the occupants of the lighter one are far more likely to suffer injury than they would if the had collided with an equally light vehicle. So when someone drives a truck, they are putting those in normal sized vehicles at an extra risk. The second property is similar. The headlights of the trucks are much higher off the ground than those of cars. Driving a car at night with one of these trucks close behind you is extremely annoying and possibly dangerous. In both of these cases, the drivers of the trucks don't experience the disadvantage of others driving trucks. In the first case, they too are in heavy vehicles, and in the second the driver is high enough off the ground to not be impaired by the headlights of other trucks.
By the logic of the "emergent standard" advocates, the only way to deal with the truck problems I've described is to switch to driving a truck oneself. The emergent standard argument might have some validity if the standards were arbitrary, but if some are particularly destructive to community as a whole, they should be opposed. Use of MS-Word for document exchange is simply bad network citizenship. Paraphrasing Juhapekka Tolvanen: using MS-Word is like smoking; using it for document exchange is like blowing your smoke in everyone else's face.
koans explained
Well folks, the true teaching of the banana split koan is contained in itself, but here's an attempt to explain. The master was really trying to say that arbitrary occurences in the past cement themselves in the present and future. So out with the strawberry, let's canonize other flavors of ice cream.
On the fine topic of koans, go to
[ http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/cgi-bin/koan-index.pl ]
for Mumon and his mysterious enlightening ways, and this next url will springboard me to the next part of my post:
[ http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ ]
in case you liked that, there's weirder stuff here:
[ http://www.gu.uwa.edu.au/users/greg/ ]
By the way, I've got an interview with MINDEF tomorrow, which is a shirt and pants, security clearance affair.
As some more attractive side-tracks to divert you from the reading of this blog post, here are
[ http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html ]
and
[ http://www.catb.org/~esr//faqs/loginataka.html ]
Note that I highly recommend the tabbed browsing features of a browser like firefox, which is in it's preview release 0.10 (zero point ten):
[ http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ ]
Really, you should click to see if you've never seen it before...
So, on the bus back after the entire day with James where we helped him pack (i.e. Say Yang doing his best to keep as much of his house out of his suitcase), and we went to eat and went to Parkway Parade to shop, and went blading in the afternoon. Say Yang bought a new bag and I think James is going to buy a pouch to try to go around the 1+1 carry-on item restrictions. Bladed quite far; I was the chosen one not to fall down. Oh fate, pulchritudinous!
Talked to James about software patents. The Amazon 1-click business can be discussed here:
[ http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html ]
and that document links to this site which contains lots more discussion:
[ http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html ]
On the bus back with Say Yang, he was asking about why use linux/open source. I said a lot of things, but I wasn't able to think abstractly enough to deliver the kicker, which may not be that much of a kicker for you guys.
Linux empowers the user. The user is not locked into proprietary (closed source) systems, where you are at the whim and economic interests of corporations like Microsoft: if anything goes wrong with Windows, no one can really fix it except the people who wrote Windows in the first place. The common analogy is of a car: Windows is sold to you like a car with a special lock on the hood, so while you can try kicking the car if it won't start, you'll need to go back to the car dealer to get them to open the hood and fix whatever is wrong with it. With open source software, you can go to any mechanic you know and if the mechanic is your friend she might even top up your engine oil for free.
Linux empowers users, which definitely explains why power users love it. It's a solid product: the design philosophy is to create lots and lots of tiny, solid working parts and then with these tools there are all sorts of possibilities. In comparison, Windows is shipped as this huge thing that just works, and you're not supposed to really understand how it works.
In linux, you have the freedom to modify whatever you like: you can take apart the system like you take apart a radio and use the parts to make a paperweight, if you so desire. There are all sorts of software written by people who actually use the software they develop, which is the main reason why they write the software afterall. So they are invested more in the quality of the software, not how well the product will sell.
This
[ http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=review-debian ]
says about Debian linux, and I quote:
The part I wanted to highlight was that one can consider Libranet, Xandros and Lindows (now Linspire), which aim to be simple to use, like Microsoft Windows. So try them out if you're frustrated with having to pay Microsoft for software that's lousier than software you can get for free.
But maybe you don't want the power and freedom linux provides. You probably are familiar with Microsoft Word documents. They suck. Read a little here:
[ http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html ]
I'm not saying the Office program is lousy in terms of functionality. The problem is that the .doc format is proprietary: you pretty much need others to have Word installed in order for them to read it. Ok, maybe you think that's fair, you need someone to have a computer, so why not require them to have Word?
There is an open standard for documents, Rich Text Format (.rtf), which isn't very advanced in terms of supported functionality. The .doc format has more functionality, and so does the .sxw format of OpenOffice. The difference is that the .sxw format is an open format, and XML-based (basically similar to html documents, which any browser can read). The format is specified so if you don't like OpenOffice you are free to use some other program that you write or download somewhere which can read .sxw files. Because the .sxw format is publicized instead of being kept secret like .doc, it can be a good, proper standard like .rtf, only better.
One will never find a page like this published for the .doc format.
[ http://xml.openoffice.org/general.html ]
The .doc format is closed, proprietary, and the more it is proliferated, the happier Microsoft is, because they pretty much control who can read and write such files. That ability is usually granted you if you pay a lot of money or you use pirated software and hope they don't come to collect from you later.
Pretty much control because well, there are ways to guess how the .doc format works, though these ways are imperfect. The OpenOffice suite is able to guess, and for regular not-too-fancy documents the guessing is good enough. My point is that you should really move away from .doc and use a format like .rtf instead, or even better, install OpenOffice (it's free, no need to pay!) and use the .sxw format, which is an improved format.
Microsoft is so successful because it knows the secret of this .doc format and sells the secret decoder rings, without giving away the secret in the process.
Do you wish to be free? Empower yourself and take this unholy power away from the monolithic corporation that treats users as sources of income. The free software movement treats users as people.
On the fine topic of koans, go to
[ http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/cgi-bin/koan-index.pl ]
for Mumon and his mysterious enlightening ways, and this next url will springboard me to the next part of my post:
[ http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ ]
in case you liked that, there's weirder stuff here:
[ http://www.gu.uwa.edu.au/users/greg/ ]
By the way, I've got an interview with MINDEF tomorrow, which is a shirt and pants, security clearance affair.
As some more attractive side-tracks to divert you from the reading of this blog post, here are
[ http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html ]
and
[ http://www.catb.org/~esr//faqs/loginataka.html ]
Note that I highly recommend the tabbed browsing features of a browser like firefox, which is in it's preview release 0.10 (zero point ten):
[ http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ ]
Really, you should click to see if you've never seen it before...
So, on the bus back after the entire day with James where we helped him pack (i.e. Say Yang doing his best to keep as much of his house out of his suitcase), and we went to eat and went to Parkway Parade to shop, and went blading in the afternoon. Say Yang bought a new bag and I think James is going to buy a pouch to try to go around the 1+1 carry-on item restrictions. Bladed quite far; I was the chosen one not to fall down. Oh fate, pulchritudinous!
Talked to James about software patents. The Amazon 1-click business can be discussed here:
[ http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html ]
and that document links to this site which contains lots more discussion:
[ http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html ]
On the bus back with Say Yang, he was asking about why use linux/open source. I said a lot of things, but I wasn't able to think abstractly enough to deliver the kicker, which may not be that much of a kicker for you guys.
Linux empowers the user. The user is not locked into proprietary (closed source) systems, where you are at the whim and economic interests of corporations like Microsoft: if anything goes wrong with Windows, no one can really fix it except the people who wrote Windows in the first place. The common analogy is of a car: Windows is sold to you like a car with a special lock on the hood, so while you can try kicking the car if it won't start, you'll need to go back to the car dealer to get them to open the hood and fix whatever is wrong with it. With open source software, you can go to any mechanic you know and if the mechanic is your friend she might even top up your engine oil for free.
Linux empowers users, which definitely explains why power users love it. It's a solid product: the design philosophy is to create lots and lots of tiny, solid working parts and then with these tools there are all sorts of possibilities. In comparison, Windows is shipped as this huge thing that just works, and you're not supposed to really understand how it works.
In linux, you have the freedom to modify whatever you like: you can take apart the system like you take apart a radio and use the parts to make a paperweight, if you so desire. There are all sorts of software written by people who actually use the software they develop, which is the main reason why they write the software afterall. So they are invested more in the quality of the software, not how well the product will sell.
This
[ http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=review-debian ]
says about Debian linux, and I quote:
Fortunately, the installation/configuration issue is being addressed, and there is hope that Debian will finally have an installer worthy of the name when Sarge is released. The new installer, which is named appropriately enough "Debian-installer", is under active development.
In the meantime, fearful newbies looking for a free alternative might want to try a "live CD" distro such as Knoppix, Morphix or MEPIS. These are Debian-based and can be installed onto the hard drive, and from there you can use "apt-get install" to build up a real Debian box. Even better are the offerings such as Libranet, Xandros and Lindows - all three are Debian-based, the only disadvantage being that they cost money.
The part I wanted to highlight was that one can consider Libranet, Xandros and Lindows (now Linspire), which aim to be simple to use, like Microsoft Windows. So try them out if you're frustrated with having to pay Microsoft for software that's lousier than software you can get for free.
But maybe you don't want the power and freedom linux provides. You probably are familiar with Microsoft Word documents. They suck. Read a little here:
[ http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html ]
I'm not saying the Office program is lousy in terms of functionality. The problem is that the .doc format is proprietary: you pretty much need others to have Word installed in order for them to read it. Ok, maybe you think that's fair, you need someone to have a computer, so why not require them to have Word?
There is an open standard for documents, Rich Text Format (.rtf), which isn't very advanced in terms of supported functionality. The .doc format has more functionality, and so does the .sxw format of OpenOffice. The difference is that the .sxw format is an open format, and XML-based (basically similar to html documents, which any browser can read). The format is specified so if you don't like OpenOffice you are free to use some other program that you write or download somewhere which can read .sxw files. Because the .sxw format is publicized instead of being kept secret like .doc, it can be a good, proper standard like .rtf, only better.
One will never find a page like this published for the .doc format.
[ http://xml.openoffice.org/general.html ]
The .doc format is closed, proprietary, and the more it is proliferated, the happier Microsoft is, because they pretty much control who can read and write such files. That ability is usually granted you if you pay a lot of money or you use pirated software and hope they don't come to collect from you later.
Pretty much control because well, there are ways to guess how the .doc format works, though these ways are imperfect. The OpenOffice suite is able to guess, and for regular not-too-fancy documents the guessing is good enough. My point is that you should really move away from .doc and use a format like .rtf instead, or even better, install OpenOffice (it's free, no need to pay!) and use the .sxw format, which is an improved format.
Microsoft is so successful because it knows the secret of this .doc format and sells the secret decoder rings, without giving away the secret in the process.
Do you wish to be free? Empower yourself and take this unholy power away from the monolithic corporation that treats users as sources of income. The free software movement treats users as people.
Monday, September 20, 2004
lilo
lilo works well. No more booting from a floppy for me, for the most part. Left out the "prompt" option in /etc/lilo.conf but realized this left no window for me to boot windows, so added that in together with a timeout=30 (which is equivalent to 3 seconds). So linux is now my default OS.
my shoulder has been aching the whole day. As I told Jasper, this is probably because when I slept, my pillow was upside down: it's one of those support pillows, see, with a groove for the head... the groove was facing the bed and I didn't notice it (the pillowcase obscures this fact) until I woke up with a terrible ache.
my shoulder has been aching the whole day. As I told Jasper, this is probably because when I slept, my pillow was upside down: it's one of those support pillows, see, with a groove for the head... the groove was facing the bed and I didn't notice it (the pillowcase obscures this fact) until I woke up with a terrible ache.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
banana split sutra
The master was eating a 3 scoop banana split.
The neophyte asked: I wonder how come the 3 default flavors for ice cream are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. He added that he could understand chocolate, but vanilla's a little iffy, and strawberry hardly at all. Why strawberry? Why pink?
The master looked up and smiled, and continued eating the melting ice cream.
Was out with Jasper today, YMCA rates too expensive for long-term lodging, we ate at Hans, where the water was not cold. Walked to Bugis MRT ultimately; stopped by Bras Basah to look at books first. There's this sports shop there with lots of stuff, and not expensive. In fact, quite cheap lor. But not dirt cheap lah.
Then went to Granny's place for dinner. Evaluated the claims for MRET water [ http://www.elixir-health.com/mret/mret_what.htm ].
Pumped my bicycle tires because they were getting flat. Got a backpack from my aunty who went to Hong Kong, I think. Ate lots and lots and drank a lot of tea too.
Watched Dodgeball with Jasper that day. Friday? Saturday? My brain isn't working too well. Got quite a few things to do with Linux still. Want to rebuild the kernel from source. Tried installing Firefox but didn't work. Something about gtk. Want to write lilo to the MBR instead of booting from floppy all the time.
Managed to mount my windows partition with my files onto my linux filesystem. Just had to edit /etc/fstab to add the vfat partition to mount, with options "defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000" to set the read/write/execute permissions for myself. Also jazzed up my bash prompt a little more with color because it's kinda hard finding the prompt if it looks like regular text.
Probably have to fix APM too, my computer hung possibly because it was too hot, while in linux, so when I did a hard reboot, and restarted linux, it did a fsck and gave some stuff about deleted inodes and zero dtimes. But I gather everything's fine.
Meeting James and Say Yang tomorrow: going blading at East Coast Park. Oh yes, Dodgeball. I forgot to say that's it's friggin' hilarious. Ben Stiller (Zoolander) is awesome at playing the idiot. It's dumb, simple fun, but it's great fun!
Oh yes, Jasper says one of the actresses in Dodgeball looks like Clarissa.
Saw another David Blaine show on TV. Cool stuff. Plucked the head off a live chicken and then put it back.
There was news about my NS re-enlistment. So I was called up a few days ago and asked what I wanted to do. I said physics-related research, over other research like the stuff like budget, I dunno, that kind of thing, policy stuff I guess. I really should backup my files. It's been some time since the last backup.
The neophyte asked: I wonder how come the 3 default flavors for ice cream are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. He added that he could understand chocolate, but vanilla's a little iffy, and strawberry hardly at all. Why strawberry? Why pink?
The master looked up and smiled, and continued eating the melting ice cream.
Was out with Jasper today, YMCA rates too expensive for long-term lodging, we ate at Hans, where the water was not cold. Walked to Bugis MRT ultimately; stopped by Bras Basah to look at books first. There's this sports shop there with lots of stuff, and not expensive. In fact, quite cheap lor. But not dirt cheap lah.
Then went to Granny's place for dinner. Evaluated the claims for MRET water [ http://www.elixir-health.com/mret/mret_what.htm ].
Pumped my bicycle tires because they were getting flat. Got a backpack from my aunty who went to Hong Kong, I think. Ate lots and lots and drank a lot of tea too.
Watched Dodgeball with Jasper that day. Friday? Saturday? My brain isn't working too well. Got quite a few things to do with Linux still. Want to rebuild the kernel from source. Tried installing Firefox but didn't work. Something about gtk. Want to write lilo to the MBR instead of booting from floppy all the time.
Managed to mount my windows partition with my files onto my linux filesystem. Just had to edit /etc/fstab to add the vfat partition to mount, with options "defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000" to set the read/write/execute permissions for myself. Also jazzed up my bash prompt a little more with color because it's kinda hard finding the prompt if it looks like regular text.
Probably have to fix APM too, my computer hung possibly because it was too hot, while in linux, so when I did a hard reboot, and restarted linux, it did a fsck and gave some stuff about deleted inodes and zero dtimes. But I gather everything's fine.
Meeting James and Say Yang tomorrow: going blading at East Coast Park. Oh yes, Dodgeball. I forgot to say that's it's friggin' hilarious. Ben Stiller (Zoolander) is awesome at playing the idiot. It's dumb, simple fun, but it's great fun!
Oh yes, Jasper says one of the actresses in Dodgeball looks like Clarissa.
Saw another David Blaine show on TV. Cool stuff. Plucked the head off a live chicken and then put it back.
There was news about my NS re-enlistment. So I was called up a few days ago and asked what I wanted to do. I said physics-related research, over other research like the stuff like budget, I dunno, that kind of thing, policy stuff I guess. I really should backup my files. It's been some time since the last backup.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
dreams
Last night I dreamt I was given two years to go overseas and learn a language, and I thought Italian, or maybe French, maybe German. Interestingly, I didn't think of Hebrew. Anyway, I was supposed to go to LA first, but my mom changed my flight and made it sound like I was going to some jungle or something. Turns out I was booked for Prussia.
After lunch, I slept the afternoon and had another dream. I dreamt I could fly, but first, there was someone with a hovercraft, with dual-controls so it could be controlled by either person. There was some sort of steering wheel and some pedal, which was both accelerate, and if you step hard enough, brake. I had trouble braking, certainly, and was going really quickly, and there was a red light, and stopped just past the line. Pretty reckless lane-switching and turning and stuff.
The craft could fly over other cars, and I was telling the other person that destruction was not good. Then I dreamt I could fly and flew into a toilet cubical. I was difficult to fly, though, and took quite a bit of effort. Then after that, saw Ian (Chunnie's boyfriend), who brought some stuffed spring chicken, and I was saying how it sickened me, the pain of death.
Getting quite annoyed with Windows. Blue-screened on me again today. I'm very close to totally making the switch, once I figure out how to mount a windows partition on my Linux filesystem.
I miss my lovey.
After lunch, I slept the afternoon and had another dream. I dreamt I could fly, but first, there was someone with a hovercraft, with dual-controls so it could be controlled by either person. There was some sort of steering wheel and some pedal, which was both accelerate, and if you step hard enough, brake. I had trouble braking, certainly, and was going really quickly, and there was a red light, and stopped just past the line. Pretty reckless lane-switching and turning and stuff.
The craft could fly over other cars, and I was telling the other person that destruction was not good. Then I dreamt I could fly and flew into a toilet cubical. I was difficult to fly, though, and took quite a bit of effort. Then after that, saw Ian (Chunnie's boyfriend), who brought some stuffed spring chicken, and I was saying how it sickened me, the pain of death.
Getting quite annoyed with Windows. Blue-screened on me again today. I'm very close to totally making the switch, once I figure out how to mount a windows partition on my Linux filesystem.
I miss my lovey.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Quote
There was this quote in this book Jasper saw at the book sale that day:
The way to a man's heart is not through his stomach, try someplace a little lower (that was a rough paraphrase by me, and I don't know the attribution.)
I'm using the silver mouse now; I think this is what the tellers at DBS use. Looks cool, man. I've ordered the ellusionist video.
To Jasper: if there are any quotes or sayings I forgot and you'd like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments!
The way to a man's heart is not through his stomach, try someplace a little lower (that was a rough paraphrase by me, and I don't know the attribution.)
I'm using the silver mouse now; I think this is what the tellers at DBS use. Looks cool, man. I've ordered the ellusionist video.
To Jasper: if there are any quotes or sayings I forgot and you'd like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments!
This is for my Teeth
Was so tired last night when I got back that I fell asleep on my bed without brushing teeth or switching off the lights. Was lying in bed thinking about the stuff to post here and the errands I need to run.
We didn't watch a movie afterall, me and Jasper, that is. Plan to watch Wicker Park this Friday; the male lead looked familiar, and I was going to do a google of him, but today's Life! section in the Straits Times spared me that. So he was one of the actors in Pearl Harbor. By the way, Jasper still hasn't laced his new shoes and hasn't opened up the boxes of dumbbells.
Anyway, we went to the Japanese restaurant in Takashimaya, the same place I had the wild plant udon, and this time I got the udon with beancurd skin (the sweet kind), and Jasper got udon with tempura batter, and he was expecting some tempura, but there was only batter. That's why Japanese places suck: too damn expensive. Furthermore, I don't know what they were thinking, but the tea was cold. Not cold, cold, but room temperature. Distasteful.
We did some maths there: simple, elementary stuff. Like proving the infinity of primes, the division algorithm, uniqueness of prime factorization, and one tricky bit about how if a prime divides the product ab, then it divides either a or b. Had to use gcd's to prove it: Hardy's book that was at Borders also ended up using the same method. But on the bus home we got stuck on this thing Jasper said someone said before, that the product of n consecutive numbers is divisible by n!. It seems to me to be true, but it could also be false. Any proofs?
On simpler matters, before taking 132 back to Ang Mo Kio to take 86, we were walking to the 132 bus stop and went into that condom shop in Lucky Plaza that's next to the street. Jasper was wondering why that shop wasn't banned, but I guess technically it's not selling pornography, just bondage equipment and dildos and the like. To answer Jasper's question as to whether there is the other-sex counterpart to the dildo, click here [WARNING! NOT CHILD-SAFE!].
It's a bummer depositing cheques in US$ here. I have a US$14 cheque that's as good as a lousy piece of paper because too many fees are involved. As Jasper notes, I'd be quite screwed if I had 100 of those cheques, because it would cost about that much to fly to the US and back in order to deposit them there.
And in Borders, Jasper saw this quote about how no one changes the world who isn't obsessed, not by anonymous, but I forget by who. But there are healthy and unhealthy obsessions, of course. What is the antipode of Singapore, asked Jasper's professor, John Berrick. It would probably be some place south of New York, I guess. New York got Statue of Liberty, Singapore got Liberty of Stat-ing.
I bought two more phonecards yesterday; bought another of the 2.5 cent per minute (to the US) card but with 30 cent connection fee; bought another card that is 4.5 cent per minute without connection fee. At least buying the cards is convenient, since there are two stalls along the stretch of Orchard Road near Centerpoint.
So the Japanese place was like a conspiracy, making us spend more money eating more food. The Taka exhibition place had all sorts of food on sale, mostly mooncakes, but other stuff like dragon beard candy and some deep fried stuff and some grilled noodles+salmon+quail egg square. They had ice-cream mooncakes shaped like peaches, pears, and something else. Really supposed to look like a peach: skin outside looks real, then inside they have a chocolate pit and orangey ice cream.
We bought some cookies from Taka, but this place isn't part of the exhibition, more of a regular fixture. They also sold all sorts of brownies, which looked awesome. Totally hot. We had lots of samples of mooncake and even dragon beard candy, which was supposedly more special because the beard was melt in your mouth and they had some coconut and other stuff in the peanut mix.
Jasper has a knack for spotting people. Saw Wong Li Lin at Borders browsing through magazines, and I was able to confirm the visual. I think they're doing some TV special regarding the stages of her pregnancy. He also recognized quite a few people he knew as we were walking and stuff. Helped him recycle a can: Florida's Natural Apple Juice.
Trying to settle financial matters... anyone know where a Bank of America ATM is in Singapore? Will ask my mom to see if she knows the answer to that one... that would be a solution to the US$14 cheque problem.
Have a new mousepad; found it among the photo albums in the house. It's circular and it's from DBS. Comes with a silver mouse, the pad is one side silver and the working side is black rubber. It's better than the army recruitment mousepad I've been using. I think I'll try out the silver mouse too! That one has a middle mouse button instead of a scroll wheel.
Found many packs of poker cards in the house. Parents playing golf. Anyone happen to have any ideas on what could be wrong if the operation times out when contacting certain sites? Not all sites, but only some sites? And the problem is probably not with the site, because it can be accessed from another computer...
We didn't watch a movie afterall, me and Jasper, that is. Plan to watch Wicker Park this Friday; the male lead looked familiar, and I was going to do a google of him, but today's Life! section in the Straits Times spared me that. So he was one of the actors in Pearl Harbor. By the way, Jasper still hasn't laced his new shoes and hasn't opened up the boxes of dumbbells.
Anyway, we went to the Japanese restaurant in Takashimaya, the same place I had the wild plant udon, and this time I got the udon with beancurd skin (the sweet kind), and Jasper got udon with tempura batter, and he was expecting some tempura, but there was only batter. That's why Japanese places suck: too damn expensive. Furthermore, I don't know what they were thinking, but the tea was cold. Not cold, cold, but room temperature. Distasteful.
We did some maths there: simple, elementary stuff. Like proving the infinity of primes, the division algorithm, uniqueness of prime factorization, and one tricky bit about how if a prime divides the product ab, then it divides either a or b. Had to use gcd's to prove it: Hardy's book that was at Borders also ended up using the same method. But on the bus home we got stuck on this thing Jasper said someone said before, that the product of n consecutive numbers is divisible by n!. It seems to me to be true, but it could also be false. Any proofs?
On simpler matters, before taking 132 back to Ang Mo Kio to take 86, we were walking to the 132 bus stop and went into that condom shop in Lucky Plaza that's next to the street. Jasper was wondering why that shop wasn't banned, but I guess technically it's not selling pornography, just bondage equipment and dildos and the like. To answer Jasper's question as to whether there is the other-sex counterpart to the dildo, click here [WARNING! NOT CHILD-SAFE!].
It's a bummer depositing cheques in US$ here. I have a US$14 cheque that's as good as a lousy piece of paper because too many fees are involved. As Jasper notes, I'd be quite screwed if I had 100 of those cheques, because it would cost about that much to fly to the US and back in order to deposit them there.
And in Borders, Jasper saw this quote about how no one changes the world who isn't obsessed, not by anonymous, but I forget by who. But there are healthy and unhealthy obsessions, of course. What is the antipode of Singapore, asked Jasper's professor, John Berrick. It would probably be some place south of New York, I guess. New York got Statue of Liberty, Singapore got Liberty of Stat-ing.
I bought two more phonecards yesterday; bought another of the 2.5 cent per minute (to the US) card but with 30 cent connection fee; bought another card that is 4.5 cent per minute without connection fee. At least buying the cards is convenient, since there are two stalls along the stretch of Orchard Road near Centerpoint.
So the Japanese place was like a conspiracy, making us spend more money eating more food. The Taka exhibition place had all sorts of food on sale, mostly mooncakes, but other stuff like dragon beard candy and some deep fried stuff and some grilled noodles+salmon+quail egg square. They had ice-cream mooncakes shaped like peaches, pears, and something else. Really supposed to look like a peach: skin outside looks real, then inside they have a chocolate pit and orangey ice cream.
We bought some cookies from Taka, but this place isn't part of the exhibition, more of a regular fixture. They also sold all sorts of brownies, which looked awesome. Totally hot. We had lots of samples of mooncake and even dragon beard candy, which was supposedly more special because the beard was melt in your mouth and they had some coconut and other stuff in the peanut mix.
Jasper has a knack for spotting people. Saw Wong Li Lin at Borders browsing through magazines, and I was able to confirm the visual. I think they're doing some TV special regarding the stages of her pregnancy. He also recognized quite a few people he knew as we were walking and stuff. Helped him recycle a can: Florida's Natural Apple Juice.
Trying to settle financial matters... anyone know where a Bank of America ATM is in Singapore? Will ask my mom to see if she knows the answer to that one... that would be a solution to the US$14 cheque problem.
Have a new mousepad; found it among the photo albums in the house. It's circular and it's from DBS. Comes with a silver mouse, the pad is one side silver and the working side is black rubber. It's better than the army recruitment mousepad I've been using. I think I'll try out the silver mouse too! That one has a middle mouse button instead of a scroll wheel.
Found many packs of poker cards in the house. Parents playing golf. Anyone happen to have any ideas on what could be wrong if the operation times out when contacting certain sites? Not all sites, but only some sites? And the problem is probably not with the site, because it can be accessed from another computer...
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Good Life
As my lovey has mentioned to me, I've got a good life: free movies (at night, in full-color dream sequences), free concerts (courtest of Jasper, who entertains requests), and in another sense of free, I've got free software, and free speech (on this blog at least).
But as the crunch of my re-enlistment approaches, I'm starting to really get my hands on tying up loose ends, and there's quite a bit I have to do. I'm trying not to get stressed out.
Fell asleep on the couch downstairs last night. It was comfortable. Didn't brush my teeth (again). Woke up at about 5am and then went upstairs to brush teeth and sleep. Woke up at about noon.
I love you, dear, you are the sweetest to me.
But as the crunch of my re-enlistment approaches, I'm starting to really get my hands on tying up loose ends, and there's quite a bit I have to do. I'm trying not to get stressed out.
Fell asleep on the couch downstairs last night. It was comfortable. Didn't brush my teeth (again). Woke up at about 5am and then went upstairs to brush teeth and sleep. Woke up at about noon.
I love you, dear, you are the sweetest to me.
Monday, September 13, 2004
John Baez
He's a (mathematical) physicist I like a lot, though I haven't really tried to really understand his (mathematical) physics stuff. Since I've put a link to his Science Journal page, here are more links. First off, his home page is here and according to this, he got his B.A. from Princeton and his Ph.D. from MIT.
In this, he talks about global warming:
- economics
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/economics.html#august28.04 ]
and if you PageUp a few times to the April 14, 2004 post on that page, you also get to read that "For example, companies like Nike are more likely to improve the labor conditions in their sweatshops in response to public shaming than just from you and I ceasing to buy their goods - if we do the latter, they may assume we just don't like their sneakers."
Then, an overview of the current situation of the planet. We're in the middle of a mass extinction...
- extinction
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/extinction.html ]
And finally, if you thought having to register at the Speaker's Corner in Singapore is bad, look at the bastion of democracy that is the United States under George Bush:
- Free Speech Zones
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/free_speech_zones.html ]
Freedom, free speech, free software, are all worth fighting for. Democracy may not be an ideal way of running a country, but it's probably the most robust method there is. But it only works if there is dialogue and free speech, if people can share their opinions and the government is open and the people are able to shape and check the government. The many-body problem will then be solved: dynamic equilibrium arising from a self-organizing mass of people with all sorts of differences and commonalities.
Ultimately, democracy is compromise. It is a constant tension constantly alive and kicking, fundamentally inspired by the spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit. The Bush Administration corrupts this by cooperating with the rich to sack the poor.
In this, he talks about global warming:
- economics
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/economics.html#august28.04 ]
and if you PageUp a few times to the April 14, 2004 post on that page, you also get to read that "For example, companies like Nike are more likely to improve the labor conditions in their sweatshops in response to public shaming than just from you and I ceasing to buy their goods - if we do the latter, they may assume we just don't like their sneakers."
Then, an overview of the current situation of the planet. We're in the middle of a mass extinction...
- extinction
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/extinction.html ]
And finally, if you thought having to register at the Speaker's Corner in Singapore is bad, look at the bastion of democracy that is the United States under George Bush:
- Free Speech Zones
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/free_speech_zones.html ]
Freedom, free speech, free software, are all worth fighting for. Democracy may not be an ideal way of running a country, but it's probably the most robust method there is. But it only works if there is dialogue and free speech, if people can share their opinions and the government is open and the people are able to shape and check the government. The many-body problem will then be solved: dynamic equilibrium arising from a self-organizing mass of people with all sorts of differences and commonalities.
Ultimately, democracy is compromise. It is a constant tension constantly alive and kicking, fundamentally inspired by the spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit. The Bush Administration corrupts this by cooperating with the rich to sack the poor.
Book Sale
Yesterday, with Jasper and Sheng Cheng, we also stopped by this book sale along Orchard Road, next to the duck and hippo tours place. They had a book teaching how to play Street Fighter 2, got a few combo moves that can use to make opponent dizzy. Jasper read this picture book on Roman Sex, which featured pictures of carvings and sculptures and the like, showing men with huge members and in various sexual acts. They also were selling Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, which I didn't get. Also had James Joyce's Dubliners. All really cheap. In Centerpoint there was this shop selling bags, selling a bag for $8.90, which was quite nice.
Another public service announcement, on an issue of great importance. Corporations again screwing up the world for money, taking, stealing from the public good. Imagine this: scientists at universities doing research and doing science, having to pay through their noses in order to access the results of such research. Even though it's scientists that do the research, write the papers, typeset the papers, referee the papers, do almost everything to publish the results, and universities have to pay publishing companies (not the contributors!) to access such research. See the following site.
What We Can Do About Science Journals
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/journals.html ]
Another public service announcement, on an issue of great importance. Corporations again screwing up the world for money, taking, stealing from the public good. Imagine this: scientists at universities doing research and doing science, having to pay through their noses in order to access the results of such research. Even though it's scientists that do the research, write the papers, typeset the papers, referee the papers, do almost everything to publish the results, and universities have to pay publishing companies (not the contributors!) to access such research. See the following site.
What We Can Do About Science Journals
[ http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/journals.html ]
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